PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


^^^/^ 


a 


BX  9941  .W7  1903 

The  Winchester  centennial, 
1803-1903 


THE 

WINCHESTER  CENTENNIAL 

1903. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/winchestercentenOObost 


REV.  HOSEA  BALLOU. 


THE 

WINCHESTER  CENTENNIAL 

1803—1903 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSALIST  PROFESSION  OF  BELIEF 

Adopted  at  Winchester,  N.  H.,  September  22,  1803, 

WITH   THE 

ADDRESSES  AND  SERMONS 


Commemorative  Services  held  in  Winchester,  Rome  City,  Ind.,  and 
Washington,  D.  C,  September  and  October,  1903. 


BOSTON  AND  CHICAGO 

UNIVERSALIST  PUBLISHING  HOUSE 

1903 


COPYRIGHT 

UNIVERSALIST  PUBLISHING  HOUSE 

A.  D.  1903 


TO 

HON.  NEWTON  TALBOT 

THE 

VENERABLE  TREASURER   OF  TUFTS  COLLEGE 

AND   THE 

FRIEND  AND    PARISHIONER   OF" 

HOSEA  BALLOU 

THIS  VOLUME   IS   INSCRIBED  WITH 

CORDIAL   ESTEEM 

AND 

FRATERNAL  REGARD 


WINCHESTER  CHURCH.  ]SO;i 


WINCHESTER  CHURCH,  190.1 


profession  ot  JBeltet 

Adopted  in  1803 


We  believe  that 
the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Old 
and  New  Testa- 
ments contain  a 
revelation  of  the  character  of  God  and  of  the 
duty,  interest  and  final  destination  of  mankind. 
2. — We  believe  that  there  is  one  God,  whose 
nature  is  love,  revealed  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
by  one  Holy  Spirit  of  Grace,  who  will  finally 
restore  the  whole 
family  of  man- 
kind to  holiness 
and  happiness. 
-   3. —  We  believe 
that  holiness  and 
true  happiness 
are  inseparably 
connected,    and 
that    believers 
ought  to   be  careful  to 
maintain  order  and  practice 
good   works;    for  these  things 
are  good  and  profitable  unto  men. 


CONTENTS. 

Page. 

I.    The  Winchester  Profession  and  the  Men  who 

Framed  it... 3 

Rev.  J.  S.  Cantwell,  D.  D.,  Chicago. 

II.    The  New  Test  ofXjur  Faith 43 

Rev.  J.  Coleman  Adams,  D.  D.,  Hartford,  Conn. 

III.  Reviewing  Magisterial  Ground 60 

Rev.  S.  HyM'Collester,  D.  D.,  Marlboro,  N.  H. 

IV.  Universalism  in  the  Layman's  Life 87 

Hon.  H.  W.  Parker,  Claremont,  N.  H. 

V.    History  of  the  Winchester' Church 103 

Miss  J.  Grace  Alexander. 

VI.    Before  and  Afte»''Winchester 113 

Rev.  J.  A.  S toner.  New  Madison,  Ohio. 

VII.    The  Winchester  of  Today.  ..y. 129 

Rev.  Clarence  J.  Harris. 

VIII.    The  Old  and  thjKNew 133 

Rev.  F.  A.  Bisbec,  D.  D.,  Boston,  Mass. 

IX.    Exposition  of  Ui^iversalism 143 

Rev.  J.  M.  Pullman,  D.D.,  Lynn,  Mass. 

X.    The  Spiritual  Side  of  JJJ^iversalism 151 

Rev.  I.  M.  ^twood,  D.  D. 

XL    The  Story  of  God's  Love 160 

Rev.  W.  C.  Sellcck,  D.  D.,  Providence,  R.  I. 

XII.    The  Genius  of  Universalism 164 

Rev.  C.  E.  ^ash,  S.  T.  D.,  Galesburg,  III. 

XIII.  The  Washington  Commemoration 178 

XIV.  Letters  and  Recollections 189 

Appendix   200 

IX 


INTRODUCTION. 


This  volume,  embracing  the  several  commemorations  of  the 
one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  Winchester  Profession,  while 
largely  occupied  with  the  history  of  an  event  which  took  place 
a  century  ago,  is  itself  a  contribution  to  the  future  history  of 
the  Universalist  Church.  It  is  prepared  not  only  for  this  genera- 
tion of  Universalists,  who,  it  is  believed,  will  find  instruction  in 
its  pages,  but  also  for  those  in  future  years  who  may  desire  to 
know  something  of  the  temper  and  spirit  of  the  spiritual  de- 
scendants of  the  Winchester  Fathers  after  one  hundred  years  of 
the  Profession  adopted  in  1803. 

These  men  are  not  to  be  numbered  among  "the  Fathers  who 
lived  among  the  falling  and  fallen  leaves  of  the  old  world." 
They  were  rather  the  seers  and  prophets  of  the  New  Time,  who 
handed  down  the  torch  of  truth  to  enlighten  and  bless  succeed- 
ing generations.  While  they  are  given  due  honor  in  the  following 
pages,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  new  duties  and  responsibilities  of  tTie 
Universalist  Church  are  recognized  as  vital  in  the  principles  of 
the  Winchester  faith.  We  can  best  honor  the  Fathers  by  carry- 
ing on  their  work. 

"How  changed  by  all  the  passing  years"  is  the  Universalist 
denomination  now  from  what  it  was  in  the  time  when  the  Win- 
chester Profession  was  adopted!  But  the  change  is  particularly 
marvelous  in  the  direction  emphasized  in  these  anniversary  dis- 
courses, namely,  the  broadening  out  of  the  great  hope  as  to 
destiny  and  the  enlarged  spirit  of  charity  that  now  prevails  in  all 
Christian  denominations,  the  full  flower  of  the  religious  freedom 
that  has  come  during  the  century,  of  which  the  Winchester  Pro- 
fession was  an  early  expression.  The  glances  at  the  past  and  the 
outlook  on  the  future  embodied  in  this  volume  must  prove  a 
study  that  will  give  new  confidence  to  every  endeavor  that  is 
made  in  behalf  of  the  church  that  has  been  so  largely  instru- 
mental in  bringing  these  things  to  pass.  In  this  belief  it  is  sent 
forth  on  its  mission,  with  the  prayer  that  it  may  be  found  worthy 
of  the  blessing  of  God  and  do  some  good  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  the  Lord. 

Chicago,  November  30,  1903. 


CmtmniaE  ^'bhnBMS. 


SPEAKERS  AT  THE  CENTENNIAL— I. 

JOHN     S.    CANTWELL. 

SULLIVAN    H.    m'cOLLESTER.  FREDERICK    A.    BISBEE. 

JAMES    M.    PULLMAN. 


The  Winchester  Profession  and  the 
Men  Who  Framed  It.' 

J.  S.  CANTWELL,  D.  D. 

Great  events  in  life  or  history  are  like  mountains. 
They  need  distance  for  their  perspective.  Near  to  them, 
or  on  their  own  levels,  we  do  not  see  them  aright;  away 
from  them  we  see  how  they  emerge  from  their  surround- 
ings and  tower  above  them,  filling  the  mind  with  a  proper 
sense  of  their  magnitude.  They  are  thus  seen  in  their 
true  relations  and  we  arrive  at  an  understanding  of  their 
significance  to  the  cause  or  movement  of  which  they  form 
a  part. 

One  of  the  great  events  which  stand  out  as  mountain 
peaks  in  Universalist  history  is  that  whose  centennial 
we  observe  this  day,  and  which  has  also  engaged  the  at- 
tention of  our  church  throughout  the  country  during  the 
last  month  with  excellent  results.  It  has  recalled  and  will 
securely  fasten  in  the  memory  of  this  generation  of  Uni- 
versalists  the  most  important  event  in  our  denominational 
annals  after  the  landing  of  John  Murray  on  these  West- 
ern shores. 

One  hundred  years  have  fled  since  that  September  day 
of  1803 — day  never  to  be  forgotten,  whose  sun  will  never 


^Delivered  at  the  Centennial  of  the  Adoption  of  the  Profession  of 
Belief,  Winchester,  N.  H.,  October  i,  1903.  Given  also,  in  part,  at  the 
Rome  City  (Ind.)  Assembly,  September  2,  and  at  the  commemorative 
service  of  the  General   Convention,   Washington,    D.    C,    October   27. 

(8) 


4  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

set  in  our  liistory — when  the  Articles  of  Faith  of  the  Uni- 
versalists  of  this  country  were  born  in  this  ancient  town, 
whose  name  has  been  associated  with  them  during  the 
century.  We  are  now  brought  together  to  survey  them 
under  the  perspective  of  the  century  and  to  honor  the  men 
who  framed  and  adopted  them,  and  are  assembled  for  that 
purpose  in  the  old  meeting-house  where  they  first  saw  the 
light.  Surely  it  is  an  occasion  of  memorable  and  touch- 
ing interest  and  one  well  worthy  of  the  gathering  of  this 
day.  We  have  come  from  homes  and  churches  near  by 
and  distant,  as  on  a  pious  pilgrimage  to  an  ancient  shrine, 
to  view  the  historic  spot  endeared  by  the  memories  of  the 
hundred  years,  and,  we  trust,  to  find  a  new  inspiration 
for  the  work  handed  down  by  the  fathers  to  their  descend- 
ants of  a  third  generation. 

0  Winchester!  "Little  town  of  Winchester,"  great 
has  been  thy  privilege  to  have  been  the  Bethlehem  of  the 
immortal  document  whose  century  we  celebrate.  Thou  art 
nowise  least  among  the  princes  of  Judah,  for  out  of 
thee  came  forth  that  which  we  honor  today.  With  the 
Universalist  Profession  of  Belief  thy  name  and  history 
will  be  forever  connected.  Thy  walls  have  been  salvation 
and  thy  gates  praise  for  three  generations  of  our  people. 
Venerable  walls !  ye  have  witnessed  to  a  great  event  in 
this  old  house.  Would  that  ye  could  speak  and  tell  us 
more  of  the  men  we  honor,  who  were  once  living  and 
acting  here,  but  now  have  been  long  resting  in  their  quiet 
graves  amid  these  surrounding  hills  and  by  the  resounding 
sea  with  its  eternal  note  of  sadness. 

"The  Knights  are  dust, 
Their  swords  are  rust, 
Their    souls   are   with   our    God,    we   trust." 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  5 

We  honor  the  men  of  1803  because  "that  which  may 
be  known  of  God  was  manifest  in  them ;  for  God  shewed  it 
unto  them/'  (Romans  1:19.)  They  were  among  the 
sturdy  defenders  and  pioneers  of  religious  freedom  in  this 
land,  and  bearers  of  a  message  that  inspired  their  noblest 
energies  and  made  them  heroes  of  the  faith.  As  Bradford, 
the  Puritan  leader  of  1640,  expressed  himself  in  "sweet 
simplicity"  as  to  his  fellow  religionists,  so  may  we  say 
of  the  men  of  1803 :  "They  had  a  great  hope  and  inward 
zeal  of  laying  some  good  foundation,  or  at  least  to  make 
some  way  thereunto  for  the  propagating  and  advancing 
the  gospel  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  in  these  parts,  though 
they  should  be  but  as  stepping  stones  unto  others  for  per- 
forming so  great  a  work."  If  we  failed  to  honor  these 
early  defenders  of  Universalism  we  would  render  our- 
selves liable  to  the  reproach  implied  by  Macaulay,  when 
he  remarked  that  "any  people  who  are  indifferent  to  the 
noble  achievements  of  remote  ancestors  are  not  likely  to 
achieve  an5^thing  worthy  to  be  remembered  by  their  de- 
scendants." 

Let  us  now  pass  rapidly  in  review  the  times  in  which 
our  articles  were  formulated  and  the  period  which  pre- 
ceded that  action. 

John  Murray  arrived  in  this  country  as  the  uncon- 
scious messenger  of  Glad  Tidings,  on  one  of  the  last  days 
of  September,  1770.  His  first  sermon  in  America  was 
delivered  in  the  Potter  Meeting-house  in  the  woods  of  New 
Jersey,  the  earliest  shrine  of  Universalist  worship,  on  Sun- 
day, September  30,  of  that  year.  Thirty-three  years  after 
the  advent  of  Murray,  in  the  same  month,  September  22, 
1803,  the  Winchester  Profession  was  adopted.     Those  who 


6  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

are  fond  of  tracing  coincidences  and  finding  mystic  signifi- 
cance in  certain  parallel  dates,  will  count  it  somewhat  re- 
markable that  this  event  took  place  exactly  the  years  of 
a  generation  after  John  Murray's  landing  in  New  Jersey, 

The  progress  of  the  Universalist  cause  in  the  years 
from  the  advent  of  Murray  to  the  Winchester  Convention 
was  in  numbers  far  from  encouraging.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  nineteenth  century  our  historians  agree  that  there 
were  only  twenty-five  or  thirty  preachers  of  our  faith  in 
all  the  land,  and  these  mainly  in  New  England,  but  the 
leavening  power  of  the  truth  and  the  animating  spirit  of 
the  new  faith  were  entering  upon  a  significant  sphere  of 
infiuence. 

There  were  indications  all  around  of  a  new  upspring- 
ing  of  the  greater  faith  in  the  hearts  of  men.  As  when, 
in  the  early  spring  time,  we  find  the  new  and  more  balmy 
atmosphere  bringing  healing  in  its  wings,  and  detect  the 
preparations  of  nature  for  the  coming  season  in  the  signs 
of  awakened  life  everywhere  around,  the  earth  giving  forth 
its  pleasant  odors  and  making  ready  for  the  quickening 
of  the  seed  soon  to  be  cast  into  her  bosom,  the  grass  be- 
coming green  once  more  and  the  trees  tremulous  with  new 
life,  with  the  buds  swelling  almost  ready  to  burst  into  leaf 
and  flower  amid  the  sunshine  of  the  spring  days,  so  it 
was  in  this  period.  There  was  an  awakening  abroad  and 
many  souls  were  ready  to  receive  the  new  teachings  of 
God  and  destiny  when  once  given  voice  in  the  words  of 
men's  enlarged  faith  and  hope.  The  handful  of  corn 
on  the  top  of  the  mountains  was  destined  to  grow  and 
shake  as  Lebanon. 

New  England  was  then  under  the  despotic  sway  of  the 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  7 

Calvinistic  theology,  but  beams  of  light  were  beginning 
to  shoot  athwart  the  theological  heavens,  prefiguring  sun- 
rise and  the  coming  of  a  new  day.  The  reaction  which  set 
in  during  the  next  generation  after  the  revival  of  1740, 
styled  "the  Great  Awakening,"  under  the  elder  Edwards 
and  George  Whitefield,  is  described  as  marking  the  clos- 
ing years  of  the  eighteenth  century  as  "the  lowest  low 
water  mark  of  the  lowest  ebb-tide  of  spiritual  life  in  this 
century."^  "Calvinism,"  remarks  Professor  Diman, 
"throughout  all  its  camps  lay  entrenched  in  the  outworks 
of  the  understanding,  but  to  souls  sated  with  theological 
formulas,  Methodism,  with  its  direct  intuitions  of  divine 
truth,  came  like  springs  of  water  in  a  dry  and  thirsty 
land."  Say  what  we  may,  as  TJniversalists,  of  the  doctrines 
of  Methodism,  it  was  a  large  advance  over  Calvinism 
and  a  positive  preparation  for  a  nobler  faith. 

But  this  great  change  was  not  to  take  place  for  many 
years.  Even  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
Calvinism  was  the  dominant  faith  among  the  Presbyterians 
and  the  more  numerous  body  of  the  Congregationalists 
and  also  among  the  Baptists,  then  struggling  with  their 
own  problems,  "and  God,"  says  Thomas  Whittemore, 
"seems  to  have  raised  up  the  TJniversalists  to  make  the 
first  inroads  upon  it."  The  Westminster  Confession  and 
the  Saybrook  platform,  were  the  creeds  of  the  period. 
Great  multitudes  of  the  people  "lived  and  worked  and 
suffered  and  died,  with  few  exceptions,  in  an  awful  sense 
of  flying  time,  brief  probation,  a  certain  hell  and  a  very 
uncertain  Heaven." 

Even  in  the  latter  part  of  the  previous  century  we 

^Leonard  Woolsey   Bacon,   "History  of  American  Christianity." 


8  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

find  extreme  Calvinistic  opinions  puslied  to  tlieir  "most 
appalling  conclusions  with  unflinching  fearlessness"  and 
a  certain  New  England  teacher  noting  in  his  diary: 
"Enjo3'ed  some  hours  of  comfortable  m.editation  on  the 
infinite  mercy  of  God  in  damning  little  babes."  It  is 
also  interesting  to  recall  that  in  1803  New  England  was 
only  removed  by  some  thirty  or  forty  years  from  the  time 
when  Michael  Wigglesworth's  "Day  of  Doom"  was  used 
as  a  text-book  in  the  schools^  and  children  initiated  into 
the  mystery  of  the  divine  mercy  as  set  forth  in  the  dam- 
nation of  "all  who  died  in  infancy,"  as  a  direct  conse- 
quence of  "old  Adam's  fall."  Wigglesworth,  however,  was 
kind  enough  to  make  it  as  comfortable  as  possible  for 
these  unregenerate  babies  and  makes  the  divine  judge  say 
to  the  condemned  children: 

"A  crime  it  is;  therefore  in  bliss 
You   may   not   hope  to   dwell  "• 

But  unto  you   I  shall  allow 
The  easiest   room  in   hell." 

But  the  better  day  was  rapidly  advancing.  1800  was 
the  turning  point  and  the  new  century  was  breaking  into 
light.  In  the  meantime  as  Murray  receded  in  the  dis- 
tance the  star  of  Ballou  was  to  rise  ia  the  heavens,  the 
Morning  Star  of  a  reformation  more  hopeful  for  human- 
ity than  that  of  which  John  Wicklif  was  the  forerunner. 
Ballou  was  the  Ajax  to  snatch  the  lightning  from  Calvin- 
ism and  render  it  potentially  harmless  for  the  incoming 
fifty  years  of  the  new  century. 

If  we  could  now  roll  back  the  curtain  of  one  hun- 
dred years  and  place  ourselves  at  the  period  we  are  de- 


iThe  Quarterly   Review,   Vol.   LXIIIV,   p.   194. 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  9 

scribing,  what  should  we  see  and  hear  on  that  memorable 
Thursday,  September  22,  1803,  in  the  old  hill  town  of 
Winchester  ? 

We  would  witness  the  gathering  of  the  believers  in 
universal  love  on  the  second  day  of  the  Convention  of 
the  Kew  England  states.  Eighteen  or  twenty  ministers 
and  twenty-two  laymen  as  "messengers,"  or  delegates,  rep- 
resenting thirty-eight  societies,  made  up  the  assembly. 
It  was  a  little  band,  but  mighty  in  faith  and  purpose. 
They  came  from  various  parts  of  New  England,  while 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York  were  represented  by  two 
visitors,  the  New  York  visitor,  then  in  his  beautiful  and 
consecrated  youth,  to  become  in  subsequent  years,  our  be- 
loved Father  in  Israel,  Nathaniel  Stacy.  Winchester 
must  have  been  a  favorite  place  for  the  annual  meetings 
of  the  Convention  as  it  met  in  the  town  five  times  in  the 
first  thirty-three  years  of  its  history,  namely,  1796,  1803, 
1813,  1816  and  1829. 

Eev.  Zebulon  Streeter,  of  New  Hampshire,  one  of 
our  early  saints,  a  preacher  since  1791,  and  already  a  pa- 
triarch in  the  denomination,  was  the  presiding  elder,  or 
moderator,  and  Eev.  Edward  Turner  and  Rev.  Noah  Mur- 
ray were  the  clerks.  Edward  Turner  was  then  at  the 
zenith  of  his  remarkable  career.  He  was  quite  prominent 
until  1811  and  is  described  by  Dr.  Hosea  Ballou,  2d,  as 
"for  a  long  period  one  of  the  most  distinguished  ornaments 
of  our  ministry,"  and  by  the  late  Dr.  E.  G.  Brooks  as 
the  ''Jonathan  to  the  elder  Ballou's  David  in  our  forming 
church."  It  is  one  of  Turner's  several  distinctions  in  con- 
nection with  our  denomination  that  he  served  on  our 
earliest  committee  to  consider  a  denominational  school. 


10  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

He  faded  almost  out  of  recollection  after  the  Eestorationist 
controversy. 

Noah  Murray  was  a  convert  from  the  Baptists,  an 
old  preacher  who  figured  subsequently  in  the  Convention 
by  amusing,  if  not  conclusive,  remarks  against  the  adoption 
of  the  creed. 

We  have  no  basis  for  comparison,  but  the  Winches- 
ter Convention  must  have  been  more  than  an  average  one 
as  to  numbers  and  ability.  Undoubtedly  a  special  interest 
was  felt  in  the  possible  action  touching  the  proposed  Pro- 
fession of  Belief.  We  can  well  imagine  how  deeply  inter- 
ested the  brethren  were  in  regard  to  this,  and  with  what 
anxiety  they  awaited  the  report  of  the  committee  appointed 
the  previous  year,  who  were  charged  with  the  duty  of  sub- 
mitting it  as  part  of  a  plan  of  association.  This  com- 
mittee consisted  of  Zebulon  Streeter,  George  Eichards, 
Hosea  Ballou,  Walter  Ferriss  and  Zephaniah  Lathe,  and 
on  the  second  day  of  the  session  they  submitted  their 
work  for  the  approval  of  the  Convention.  The  record 
states  that  the  report  was  adopted  after  having  been  "de- 
liberately read,  naturally  considered  and  seriously  inves- 
tigated." One  account  says  that  the  articles  were  adopted 
"unanimously,"  but  another  records  the  votes  of  Noah 
Murray  and  Solomon  Glover  against  adoption,  and  it  is 
understood  that  Eev.  Edward  Turner  aJso  opposed  them. 

It  would  be  of  surpassing  interest  if  we  had  the 
complete  record  of  that  day's  proceedings,  with  the  re- 
port of  the  debate,  which  Stacy  says  v/as  "probably  the 
longest  and  warmest  that  had  ever  been  known  in  that 
deliberative  body."  How  interesting  it  would  be  to  have 
Hosea  Ballou's  argument  in  advocating  the  report,  with 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  11 

the  remarks  of  George  Eichards,  the  poet-preacher  of 
Portsmouth,  and  those  of  the  distinguished  Edward  Tur- 
ner, afterward  a  conspicuous  leader  in  the  Eestorationist 
controversy;  of  the  fair  minded  Streeter,  and  those  of 
Walter  Ferriss,  who  presented  the  creed,  with  what  was 
said  by  the  other  ministers  of  Vermont  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, so  vitally  interested  in  the  subject  of  the  debate. 
But  we  look  in  vain  for  any  of  these  precious  bits  of 
information  in  the  absolutely  colorless  official  record.  We 
can  only  infer  the  drift  of  the  discussion  from  Noah  Mur- 
ray's speech  as  handed  doM^n  to  us  as  late  as  1850,  and 
from  other  recollections  of  Nathaniel  Stacy  in  his  inter- 
esting and  valuable  autobiography  published  in  that  year. 
Noah  Murray's  remarks  have  been  often  quoted  and 
are  well  known.  He  likened  the  Profession  of  Belief  to  a 
calf,  harmless  as  a  calf  when  its  horns  have  not  made 
their  appearance.  "But,"  he  said,  "it  will  soon  grow  older, 
its  horns  will  grow  likewise  and  then  it  will  begin  to 
hook."^  The  metaphor  thus  employed  recalls  a  strikingly 
similar  remark  made  in  the  seventeenth  century  as  record- 
ed by  Dean  Stanley,  when  the  saintly  Archbishop  Leighton 
was  asked  what  he  thought  of  the  "Beast"  mentioned  in 
the  Revelations.  "If  I  were  to  fancy  what  it  meant," 
was  the  reply,  "it  would  be  something  with  a  pair  of  horns 
that  pusheth  his  neighbors  as  both  have  so  much  practiced 
of  late  in  church  and  state."  But  Noah  Murray  was  well 
answered  by  the  witty  and  ready  Zephaniah  Lathe :  "Al] 
that  Brother  Murray  has  offered  would  be  correct,"  he 
replied,  "had  he  not  made  a  mistake  in  the  animal.  It 
is  not  a  calf;  it  is  a  dove;  and  whoever  heard  of  a  dove 


^Stacy's    Autobiography. 


12  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

having  horns  at  any  age."  Bating  the  fact  that  the  dove 
is  not  happily  designated  as  an  "animal,"  this  was  a  neat 
and  effective  reply.  It  shows  that  humor  cropped  out  at 
least  once  in  this  serious  assembly.  Two  slight  verbal 
changes  only  were  made  in  the  proposed  creed. 

It  is  remarkable  also  that  no  hint  is  given  as  to  any 
existing  controversy  of  the  period,  religious  or  political, 
cropping  out  in  the  debate.  The  discussion  among  the 
orthodox  of  that  time  as  to  the  "Halfway  Covenant,"  as  it 
was  called,  attracted  as  much  attention  then  as  the  re- 
vision of  the  Westminster  Confession  in  our  day,  and 
divided  great  bodies  into  hostile  camps;  the  Arminian 
controversy  was  already  on,  Methodism  had  to  be  reckoned 
with,  and  the  high  Calvinists  were  on  the  rampage. 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  President  of  the  United  States  and 
1803  was  the  year  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  which  in 
the  fine  phrase  of  James  Parton,  gave  "imperial  magni- 
tude and  completeness  to  this  country."  It  was  a  time 
of  high  politics  and  the  Federalists  were  bitter  and  un- 
relenting. But  not  a  glimpse  of  any  element  of  contem- 
poraneous interest  appears.  The  events  in  the  outside 
world  of  Europe  and  America  in  that  memorable  year  have 
left  no  trace  in  the  proceedings.  It  might  be  said  of  the 
framers  of  our  creed  what  Carlyle  so  well  says  of 
his  father,  that  "the  things  they  had  nothing  to  do  with 
they  did  nothing  with,"  and  they  went  on  with  their  work. 

Eliminating  at  once  from  their  thought  the  metaphys- 
ical conceptions  of  the  old  creeds,  they  set  forth  in  the 
three  articles  a  doctrinal  expression  of  the  faith  which  has 
stood  the  test  of  the  century. 

Their  work  was  a  providential  one  in  our  history,  then. 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  13 

but  dimly  conceived,  even  while  nobly  expressed.  It  re- 
sulted in  establishing  a  sound  foundation  for  the  edifice 
of  American  Universalism  to  be  reared  in  coming  years. 
They  undoubtedly  builded  wiser  than  they  knew,  but  they 
built  in  faith  that  God  would  raise  up  seed  to  those  of 
the  Abrahamic  faith  and  would  not  allow  his  truth  to 
suffer  for  a  witness  in  all  time  to  come. 

It  may  also  be  noted  in  this  connection  that  the  men 
who  had  the  most  to  do  with  framing  the  Profession,  and 
who  were  the  principal  actors  in  the  scene  at  Winchester, 
while  age  now  hallows  their  memory,  were  then  young  men. 
Zebulon  Streeter  and  Noah  Murray  were  in  venerable 
years,  but  the  three  prominent  members  of  the  original 
committee  had  not  reached  middle  life.  Edward  Turner 
was  then  in  his  twenty-eighth  year;  Hosea  Ballou  was 
thirty-two;  and  Walter  Ferriss  thirty-five.  Zephaniah 
Lathe  was  probably  on  the  sunny  side  of  fifty.  John  Mur- 
ray was  living,  but  was  not  present  in  1803,  and  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Profession  and  probably  did  not 
like  it.  It  is  passing  strange  that  we  have  no  record  of 
any  suggestion  from  Hosea  Ballou  as  to  the  makeup  of 
the  creed,  either  at  the  time  or  afterward.  The  only  ref- 
erence to  it  in  any  way,  that  we  can  find,  occurs  in  his 
speech  at  the  Cambridgeport  meeting  of  the  Boston  As- 
sociation in  1847,  during  our  first  Kationalistic  controversy, 
when  he  was  in  his  seventy-sixth  year,  and  said  in  the 
course  of  debate  that  "the  Profession  was  framed  and  de- 
signed for  the  purpose  of  distinguishing  Universalists  from 
all  other  Christian  denominations,  and  this,"  he  added, 
"it  effectually  does."  Why  this  silence  of  Ballou?  No 
explanation  has  been  thus  far  found. 


14  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

We  all  know  that  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  a  great 
movement  in  religion  or  in  politics  beginning  blindly, 
and  only  gradually  awakening  to  its  highest  meaning  as 
the  recognized  expression  of  a  great  idea.  It  was  not 
this  way  with  the  movement  which  found  expression  in 
the  Winchester  Articles.  They  were  born,  full  orbed,  in 
their  own  resplendent  truth.  The  fathers  did  not  begin 
at  random;  they  knew  what  they  believed  and  also  how 
to  express  that  belief  and  in  the  century  which  has  been 
opened  for  their  investigation  no  advance  has  been  made 
in  the  clearer  expression  or  more  logical  order  of  the  sev- 
eral statements  they  set  forth.  It  was  a  broad  and  cath- 
olic declaration,  worthy  of  any  century  or  any  church, 
and  has  not  thus  far  been  excelled  or  even  approximated 
as  a  confession  of  personal  or  institutional  belief. 

We  stand  now  on  the  threshold  of  the  new  century  of 
this  Profession  when  we  can  survey  its  history  amid  all 
the  emergencies  of  our  denominational  existence  for  the 
hundred  years.  It  has  stood  the  test  of  time  as  one  of 
the  shrines  of  the  dawning  speech  and  thought  in  Ameri- 
can Universalism,  No  association,  conference  or  any  as- 
sembly of  Universalists ;  no  State  or  General  Convention 
and  but  a  single  church  in  recent  years  has  dissented  from 
its  statement  of  doctrine  or  impeached  its  general  prin- 
ciples. On  the  contrary,  time  and  again,  its  principles 
have  been  reaffirmed  and  its  several  statements  recognized 
as  our  accepted  creed.  The  Profession  anchored  us  in  the 
beginning  and  the  anchor  holds  to  this  day.  Amid  the 
storm  and  stress  of  many  a  trying  period  it  has  held  us 
steadily  to  the  sanctities  and  validities  of  a  Christian 
church. 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  15 

It  undoubtedly  will  appear  singular  to  some,  perhaps 
many,  that  we  observe  this  centennial  of  a  creed  and  that 
Universalists  have  a  creed  to  recognize  as  one  of  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  century.  It  will  be  curious  information 
to  all  such  that  the  Universalists  of  this  country  not  only 
adopted  a  creed  in  1803,  which  has  lived  as  a  vital  in- 
fluence for  the  hundred  years,  but  that  even  the  Win- 
chester Profession  was  not  the  earliest  creed  of  Ameri- 
can Universalists.  As  early  as  1790  and  again  in  1794 
articles  were  adopted  in  convention  to  express  the  exist- 
ing belief  before  that  belief  became  determinate  and  crys- 
talized  in  our  present  Profession.  Still,  it  must  be  es- 
teemed remarkable  that  these  men,  only  recently  eman- 
cipated from  the  tyranny  of  the  orthodox  confessions, 
should  undertake  to  add  a  new  creed  to  those  already 
existing.  They  avoided  the  term,  we  know,  and  christened 
it  in  the  beginning  "Profession  of  Belief,"  not  even  calling 
it  a  confession,  and  this  has  remained  unchanged  to  this 
day.  It  would  have  been  sorry  business,  indeed,  had  they 
attempted  to  formulate  a  document  in  any  respect  like  the 
old  creeds  in  limiting  freedom  of  opinion  in  the  churches 
and  making  its  letter  authoritative  and  binding  upon 
others.  The  articles  were,  however,  accompanied  by  a 
declaratory  statement  that  relieves  from  this  criticism. 
After  a  well  conceived  introduction,  in  which  the  claim  of 
being  a  separate  denomination  is  well  stated,  the  commit- 
tee went  on  to  say  that  "while  we,  as  an  association,  adopt 
a  general  profession  of  belief,  and  plan  of  church  govern- 
ment, we  leave  it  to  the  several  churches  and  societies,  or 
to  smaller  associations  of  churches  if  they  exist,  to  con- 
tinue or  adopt  within  themselves  such  more  particular  arti- 


16  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

cles  of  faith  or  modes  of  discipline  as  may  appear  to  them 
best,  under  their  particular  circumstances,  provided  they 
do  not  disagree  with  our  general  profession  and  plan." 

Such  was  the  polity  adopted  at  Winchester ;  full  liberty 
of  opinion  was  recognized  and  conceded,  the  creed  itself  not 
being  binding  as  to  exact  forms  of  expression  and  requir- 
ing only  that  its  principles  be  recognized.  The  far-seeing 
wisdom  of  this  provision  was  not  fully  recognized  until  re- 
ceent  times. 

We  can  safely  venture  our  poor  words  of  eulogy  on  these 
men  of  1803  and  the  work  which  they  accomplished,  and 
this  notwithstanding  the  advances  which  have  been  made 
since  their  time.  Perhaps  our  denomination  is  not  any 
more  given  to  boasting  than  others;  but  undoubtedly  we 
have  those  among  us  who  sympathize  with  the  remark  of 
the  Scotch  theologian,  who  said,  when  speaking  of  the 
progress  of  theology,  "It  is  a  mistake  to  look  on  our  fathers 
as  our  seniors;  they  are  our  juniors" — referring  to  the 
advance  since  their  time. 

We  have  heard  similar  remarks  from  men  in  our  own 
church.  No  doubt  it  is  true  that  in  many  respects  we 
are  in  advance  of  the  Winchester  fathers.  It  would  be  un- 
fortunate, indeed,  if  the  hundred  years  had  slipped  by  with- 
out enriching  their  descendants.  But  let  us  candidly  ask, 
"How  better  could  we  have  acted  in  their  time?"  Is  it 
at  all  likely  that  we  could  have  made  any  more  honorable 
record  to  be  handed  down  to  posterity?  Transplant  us 
now,  with  all  that  we  have  gained  in  the  hundred  years, 
back  to  their  time,  with  our  schools,  colleges,  and 
theological  institutions;  with  our  books  and  period- 
icals, and  all  the  agencies  of  an  established  and  ambi- 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  17 

tious  church,  and,  think  you,  would  we  not  have  seri- 
ous business  before  us  to  equal,  not  to  say  rival,  their 
splendid  heroism  and  the  zeal,  earnestness  and  devotion 
which  they  carried  into  their  work,  making  them  now 
worthy  of  our  highest  honor?  How  should  we  have  fared 
had  we  to  meet  their  responsibilities  in  the  constant  con- 
flict of  opinions,  amid  the  social  ostracism  of  the  time  and 
the  persecution  and  bigotry  which  attended  them  on  every 
hand?  These  glorious  old  saints  labored  and  suffered  re- 
proach for  their  trust  in  the  living  God  v\ho  is  the  Saviour 
of  all  men,  and  this  faith  fired  them  with  the  noble  courage 
which  their  descendants  could  do  no  better  than  to  emulate. 
It  is  well  for  us  to  think  of  these  things  when  the  at- 
tractive thought  of  superiority  enters  our  mind.  "They 
were  plain,  earnest  men,"  says  A.  D.  Mayo,  whose  brilliant 
youth  was  given  to  our  church,  "these  early  defenders  of 
Universalism,  armed  at  all  points.  To  the  arguments  of 
their  adversaries  they  opposed  a  logic  like  that  of  Ballou, 
simple  as  the  talk  of  a  little  child,  strong  as  the  tramp  of  a 
giant.  They  had  not  all  come  up  to  the  mount  of  their 
elevation  by  the  same  path,  but  the  sublime  truth  that 
God  is  Love  burned  like  an  undying  flame  in  their  souls 
and  united  them  like  brothers."^  And  we  may  add  that  in 
the  generation  immediately  following  Winchester  they  had 
noble  successors — men  of  strong  minds  and  warm  hearts, 
of  logic  and  eloquence,  aflame  with  the  same  love  and  heroic 
purpose  to  carry  forward  the  Faith.  Such  men  as  Thomas 
J.  Sawyer,  Stephen  R.  Smith,  Isaac  D.  Williamson  and 
George  Eogers,  to  go  no  farther  in  the  mention  of  sacred 
names,  were  worthy  successors  of  the  Winchester  fathers. 


^Sermon  at  the  funeral  of  Rev.   Thomas  Jones,   Gloucester,    1846. 


18  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

We  make  no  doubt  that  the  royal  line  will  be  duly  con- 
tinued while  our  church  stands. 

All  the  foregoing  has  been  said  with  the  understand- 
ing that  the  Winchester  creed  is  well  known  to  those  pres- 
ent. We  come  now  to  speak  of  the  several  articles  with 
some  comments  involving  an  analysis  and  possibly  an 
"interpretation."  We  follow  the  creed  and  explain  it  with 
our  own  understanding  thereof,  as  Charles  Sumner,  you 
may  remember,  accepted  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

I. 

"We  believe  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  contain  a  revelation  of  the  character  of 
God  and  of  the  duty,  interest  and  final  destination  of  man- 
kind," You  notice  (1)  that  it  is  not  the  individual  "credo" 
which  is  here  set  forth.  "We  believe."  The  growing 
brotherhood  was  recognized;  they  spoke  for  all  who  pro- 
fessed the  faith,  for  the  collective  body  of  believers,  for  the 
infant  church.  (2)  The  Holy  Scriptures  are  affirmed  to 
"contain"  a  revelation ;  they  are  not  themselves  the  revela- 
tion; they  are  the  conveyance  to  make  the  divine  will 
known  to  men.  "Holy  Scripture  is  the  word  of  God,"  says 
the  Westminster  Confession.  "They  contain  the  word  of 
God,"  affirms  Winchester.  Observe  (3)  it  is  a  "revelation" 
which  is  made  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Book. 
It  is  not  a  discovery  or  origination  of  the  human  mind, 
evolved  amid  the  gray  particles  of  the  brain  in  their  own 
unassisted  evolution,  but  a  revelation,  or  divine  disclosure 
of  "the  duty,  interest  and  final  destination  of  mankind," 
this  revelation  involving  ethical  relations,  moral  duty  and 
guidance,  and  affirming  final  destiny. 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  19 

II. 

The  second  article  puts  the  supreme  affirmation  of  all 
true  religion  in  the  very  heart  of  the  creed.  "We  believe 
that  there  is  one  God."  (1)  This  is  the  all  sufficient  af- 
firmation of  Theism  and  it  finds  a  place  here,  that  the 
creed  may  be  Theocentric— one  God,  the  Absolute  Being, 
at  its  heart  and  source,  whose  existence,  thus  recognized, 
is  the  reason  for  all  things  else.  (2)  But  he  is  not  the 
unknown  God;  he  can  be  known;  he  is  known,  for  this 
God  is  ''revealed  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  and  his  nature 
is  love.  Here  is  the  disclosure  of  the  loving  God  as  a 
fact  of  the  revelation.  "This,"  says  Newman  Smyth,  in 
"The  Orthodox  Theology  of  To-Day,"  "is  the  Christian 
philosophy  of  God,  working  itself  through  the  centuries, 
freed  from  the  corruptions  of  paganism  and  clearing  itself 
also  from  the  shadows  of  scholastic  theology."  The  revela- 
tion is  conveyed  to  mankind,  notice  further,  (3)  in  the  one 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  makes  this  Absolute  Being  we  call 
God  known  to  men  in  the  disclosure  of  a  divine  personal- 
ity. (4)  All  this  through  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
as  the  medium  of  communication,  between  the  divine  and 
the  human.  And  by  the  combined  influence  of  the  one 
Lord  and  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Grace,  operating  and  in- 
fluencing mankind,  the  God,  who  is  the  object  of  revelation 
and  is  revealed,  "will  finally  restore  the  whole  family  of 
mankind  to  holiness  and  happiness"— equivalent  to  the 
statement  that  God  will  sanctify  and  save  the  universal 
family  of  mankind. 

III. 

The  third  article  is  noticeable  for  the  fine  distinction 
which  is  implied  between  happiness  of  the  worldly  and  ex- 


20  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

ternal  order  and  the  true  happiness  with  which  holiness 
is  associated.  It  would  not  be  true  to  say  that  holiness  and 
happiness  are  "inseparably  connected/'  for  saints  and  holy 
men  are  not  invariably  happy  according  to  worldly 
standards — indeed  seldom  so — but  it  is  strictly  accurate 
to  say  that  holiness  and  true  happiness,  that  which  results 
from  the  spiritual  estate  and  possession,  are  "inseparable/ 
Our  Lord,  even  in  view  of  the  crucifixion,  bequeathed  his 
joy,  the  supreme  happiness  of  the  soul,  to  his  disciples,  and 
all  Christian  experience  attests  the  vital  and  enduring 
connection  between  holiness  and  the  higher  happiness  here 
signified.  It  follows  that  'Tjelievers  ought  to  be  careful  to 
maintain  order  and  practice  good  work,"  for  the  reason, 
among  others,  "that  these  things  are  good  and  profitable 
unto  men." 

The  charge  of  utilitarianism,  leveled  against  this  lat- 
ter clause  in  recent  years  is  purely  academic  and  can  not 
be  maintained.  It  does  not  follow  that  when  the  father^ 
commended  "order  and  good  works"  as  things  "good  and 
profitable  unto  men"  that  they  discounted  virtue  or  dis- 
placed the  higher  motives  for  the  Christian  life.  While 
these  are  supreme,  it  will  always  be  true  that  good  works 
are  incumbent  upon  mankind  and  useful  in  their  exercise, 
and,  doubtless,  ever  pleasing  to  the  God  who  seeks  the  best 
earthly  good  of  his  creatures.  This  article,  in  fact,  safe- 
guards Universalism  from  the  charge  of  ignoring  virtue  and 
makes  a  serious  appeal  for  an  orderly  life  in  accordance 
with  the  principles  and  teachings  of  the  holy  faith. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  the  Articles  have  important  se- 
quences. They  declare  the  sacred  deposit  of  the  faith 
touching  Holy  Scripture,  God,  Christ,  the  Holy  Spirit  and 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  21 

the  Final  Eestoration.  They  announce  the  moral  duty  of 
believers  in  emphatic  terms.  They  commit  us  to  the  strict 
unity  of  God.  Hence  we  are  Unitarian  Theists,  believers 
in  the  one  living  and  true  God,  and  only  Him,  revealed 
in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whose  spiritual  leadership  and 
authority  is  implied.  AYe  are  therefore  Christians,  be- 
lievers in  a  divine  revelation  to  mankind,  and  can  not  be 
Deists,  who  deny  revelation,  although  Universalism  as  a 
philosophical  principle  may  be  held  without  revelation. 
They  further  recognize  the  Holy  Spirit,  a  doctrine  peculiar 
to  the  Christian  religion,  which  is  intelligible,  even  in  the 
metaphysical  statement  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  that  this 
Holy  Spirit  does  "in  some  ineffable  and  inconceivable 
manner,  proceed  from,  and  is  breathed  forth,  from  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  by  the  divine  essence  being  wholly 
poured  out  and  flowing,  but  in  infinitely,  intense,  holy  and 
pure  love  and  delight."^ 

And  then,  the  one  resplendent  affirmation  of  our 
church,  challenging  the  attention  of  the  world  today  as  the 
only  creedal  statement  of  belief  in  the  ultimate  success, 
alike  in  time  and  eternity,  of  the  divine  administration, 
the  final  holiness  and  sanctification  of  all  souls.  This  final 
consummation,  with  times  and  season  and  all  methods  of 
discipline  and  salvation,  remains  with  our  wise  and  good 
Father  in  Heaven,  but  finally,  at  last,  "far-off,"  it  may 
be,  but  at  last,  all,  the  undivided  family  of  mankind, 
shall  be  gathered  home.  Such  is  the  sublime  consumma- 
tion of  all  things  in  the  perfect  and  blessed  will  of  God 
made  known  and  declared  to  all  the  world  as  an  Evangel 
in  the  articles  of  1803.  . 


iQuoted  by  Dr.  A.  G.  V.  Allen  in  "Religious  Leaders  of  America." 


22  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

We  might  with  this  exegesis  allow  Winchester  1803 
to  speak  for  itself.  As  Webster  said  of  Massachusetts, 
"There  she  stands !"  In  fact,  the  exceptional  value  of  the 
articles  is  that  they  do  thus  stand,  speaking  in  no  uncertain 
tones  in  regard  to  the  great  verities  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. They  are  all  inclusive,  compact  in  expression, 
clear  as  crystal  and  luminous  in  simplicity.  They  are  as 
solid  as  the  granite  of  the  New  Hampshire  hills;  as  im- 
movable as  the  rock-bound  coast  of  New  England ;  and  yet 
as  warm  with  the  sunshine  of  divine  love  as  the  noonday 
heats  of  midsummer  on  the  prairies  of  the  West.  More- 
over, they  can  have  but  one  meaning  for  all  Christians,  and 
are  not  susceptible,  by  any  turn  or  twist  of  the  phraseology, 
of  expressing  anything  but  what  is  clearly  intended  by 
their  authors. 

It  is  said  of  the  Westminster  Confession  that  "we 
hear  sounding  through  it  the  tramp  of  hosts,  the  clash  of 
arms  and  the  shout  of  victory."^  The  spirit  of  our  Pro- 
fession is  irenic;  it  breathes  only  the  sweet  note  of  con- 
fident assurance  and  the  tone  of  profound  conviction.  The 
great  articles  express  to  this  day  our  doctrinal  unity  in  an 
admirable  manner.  They  signify  not  alone  the  faith  early 
formulated,  but  that  which  obtains  now  quite  generally 
among  our  people  when  the  hundred  years  have  gone  by. 
We  wisely  put  them  into  the  bond  of  belief  in  societies  and 
churches,  we  teach  them  to  our  children,  we  repeat  them 
in  our  Sunday  Schools,  making  them  a  part  of  religious 
instruction,  we  condense  them,  with  a  single  exception,  in 
our  Five  Principles  and  they  are  written  in  the  hearts  of 
all  our  believers. 


iRev.  Wallace  Radcliffe,   D.   D.,  Westminster  Assembly  Address,   1898. 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  23 

But  just  here  we  arrest  the  strain  of  eulogy  to  remark 
that  there  is  one  blot  on  the  fair  escutcheon  of  the  heraldry 
of  the  fathers.  They  seem  to  jiave  ignored  the  fact  that 
any  form  of  a  written  creed  may  prove  inadequate  in  future 
years  of  the  church  to  the  needs  of  an  expanding  Christian- 
ity, as  new  relations  of  the  faith  develop,  and  "more  light 
breaks  out  of  God's  holy  word,"  demanding  restatement 
and  new  expression.  They  unwisely  declared  that  "No  al- 
teration of  any  part  of  the  three  articles  that  contain  the 
profession  of  our  belief  (was)  ever  to  be  made  at  any 
future  period." 

We  pause  before  that  statement  in  amazement  that 
such  a  thought  could  enter  into  the  mind  of  these  far- 
seeing  and  broad-minded  men.  It  laid  down  a  principle 
which,  if  accepted,  would  check  all  growth  and  progress. 
There  is  not,  nor  can  there  be,  any  finality  with  creeds. 
No  "dead  hand,"  whether  of  Winchester,  Boston  or  Chi- 
cago, must  ever  hold  in  its  clutch  the  destinies  of  our  Uni- 
versalist  Church.  We  revere  the  creed  and  honor  its  found- 
ers, but  it  will  be  rewritten  whenever  it  is  no  longer  rec- 
ognized as  the  fittest  expression  of  the  Universalist  belief, 
or  when  the  need  exists  for  a  new  emphasis  on  any  point 
of  doctrine  or  the  religious  life  in  the  more  advanced  de- 
velopment of  a  Christian  society.  But  that  time  is  not  yet, 
nor  is  there  any  sign  of  its  coming. 

It  is  now  well  understood  that  the  Profession  was  pre- 
pared for  the  committee  by  Eev.  Walter  Ferriss,  a  native 
of  New  York,  and  then  a  Vermont  pastor.  To  this  member 
of  the  Convention  of  1803  is  sometimes  assigned  the  honor 
of  the  authorship  of  the  several  articles.  As  early  as  1833 
Eussell  Streeter,  in  his  "Familiar  Conversations,"  wrote 


24  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

that  they  were  "said  to  have  been  penned  by  the  venerable 
Ferriss/'  This  is  probably  the  first  mention  of  Walter 
Ferriss  as  their  possible  author,  but  he  was  not  then  "ven- 
erable/' nor  was  he  at  his  death  in  1806,  for  he  was  then 
only  thirty-eight  years  old.  It  will  be  noticed  that  it  only 
took  thirty  years  to  put  Ferriss  in  the  calendar  of  ven- 
erated memory  as  a  father  of  the  church. 

Walter  Ferriss,  however,  was  not,  in  any  proper  or  his- 
torical sense,  the  creator  of  the  Winchester  Profession.  It 
has  already  been  stated  that  the  Profession  was  not  the  first 
creed  of  the  Universalist  Church,  and  whoever  will  exam- 
ine the  five  sections  of  the  platform  of  faith,  adopted  by 
the  Philadelphia  Convention  of  1790,  as  reproduced  from 
the  records  in  Abel  C.  Thomas'  "Century  of  Universalism," 
will  at  once  recognize  the  original  sources  from  which  the 
Winchester  Profession  was  formed.^  These  Philadelphia 
articles  had  been  adopted  by  the  New  England  Conven- 

'Follovving  are  the  Philadelphia  articles  of  1790: 

Sec.  1.  We  believe  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament 
to  contain  a  revelation  of  the  perfections  and  will  of  God,  and  the  rule 
of    faith    and    practice. 

2.  We  believe  in  one  God,  infinite  in  all  his  perfections,  and  that 
these  perfections  are  all  modifications  of  infinite,  adorable,  incomprehen- 
sible   and    unchangeable    love. 

3.  We  believe  that  there  is  one  Mediator  between  God  and  men, 
the  man  Christ  Jesus,  in  whom  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  godhead 
bodily;  who,  by  giving  himself  a  ransom  for  all,  hath  redeemed  them 
to  God  by  his  blood;  and  who,  by  the  merit  of  his  death,  and  the  efficacy 
of  his  spirit,   will  finally  restore  the  whole  human  race  to   happiness. 

4.  We  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  whose  office  it  is  to  make  known 
to  sinners  the  truth  of  their  salvation,  through  the  medium  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  to  reconcile  the  hearts  of  the  children  of  men  to  God, 
and  thereby  to  dispose  them  to  genuine  holiness. 

5.  We  believe  in  the  obligation  of  the  moral  law,  as  the  rule  of  life, 
and  we  hold  that  the  love  of  God  manifest  to  man  in  a  Reedemer,  is  the 
best  means  of  producing  obedience  to  that  law,  and  promoting  a  holy, 
active,    and   useful    life. 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  25 

tion  in  1794.  Words  and  phrases  in  this  previous  creed 
reappear  in  that  of  Winchester,  this  fact  leading  inevitably 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  actually  a  composite  produc- 
tion, or  evolution  from  existing  material,  Walter  Ferriss 
simply  blending,  or  fusing,  the  several  statements,  excising 
here  and  condensing  there  and  compressing  the  all-im- 
portant truth  into  three  articles  instead  of  the  original  five 
sections,  and  arranging  them  in  logical  order,  undoubtedly 
after  consultation  with  the  members  of  his  committee. 

Eeviewing  the  articles  of  1790  and  1794,  we  find 
confirmation  of  the  fact  that  they  were  the  quarry  whence 
came  the  fine  material  for  building  the  new  creed.  In  the 
first  section  the  Scriptures  are  recognized  and  asserted  to 
"contain  a  revelation,"  that  most  valuable  and  discriminat- 
ing word  being  used.  The  belief  in  one  God  is  asserted  in 
the  second  section ;  Jesus  Christ  as  Mediator  and  Eedeemer 
is  recognized  in  the  third,  with  the  "restoration  of  the 
whole  human  race  to  happiness,"  mind  you,  to  happiness 
alone ;  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  fourth  and  good  works  in  the 
fifth.  While,  therefore,  Walter  Ferriss  can  not  be  consid- 
ered strictly  as  the  author,  in  the  sense  of  conceiving  the 
thought  and  the  exact  words  of  the  Profession,  he  made 
excellent  use  of  material  already  to  hand  and  embodied 
in  the  three  well  arranged  articles  the  essential  faith  of 
the  church. 

We  fail  to  find  any  new  thought  in  the  Winchester 
creed  that  was  not  already  embedded  with  much  extraneous 
matter  in  that  of  1790,  with  the  exception  of  the  question- 
able addition  of  the  word  "holiness"  in  connection  with 
restoration.  The  eminent  Dr.  Benjamin  Eusli,  a  signer  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  revised  the  creed  of  1790 


26  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

before  its  adoption  in  convention.  Walter  Ferriss  revised 
his  revision  with  great  advantage  to  the  clearing  faith  of 
the  church. 

When  we  come  to  consider  the  facts  now  related  we 
recall  the  historical  precedent  furnished  by  the  declara- 
tions of  faith  throughout  the  ages.  All  seems  shadowy  and 
uncertain  as  to  beginnings  with  the  exception  of  the  West- 
minster Confession.  Of  that  we  have  ample  knowledge 
attending  its  production  and  the  debates  during  the  five 
years  and  six  months  of  its  incubation  in  the  Jerusalem 
chamber  of  the  famous  abbey.  It  is  admitted,  also,  that 
the  language  of  the  creeds  generally,  from  the  so-called 
Apostles'  creed  down  to  the  thirty-nine  articles  of  the 
Church  of  England,  Westminster  and  Augsburg,  reproduce 
in  their  formal  statements  pre-existing  phraseology,  reveal- 
ing constant  traces  of  the  discussions  and  controversies  of 
the  period.  The  articles  of  the  Church  of  England  fur- 
nished the  material  for  John  Wesley  when  he  amended 
them  for  his  ^Methodist  societies  as  they  stand  today  in 
the  discipline,  just  as  our  Walter  Ferriss  made  our  creed 
mainly  out  of  that  already  in  existence. 

We  have  grown  up  as  a  church  with  the  understanding 
that  the  Profession  was  established  to  provide  Universal- 
ists  with  a  method  of  escape  from  taxation  to  support  the 
"standing  order,"  otherwise  the  Congregationalists  of  that 
day.  It  was  the  period  when  New  England  was  ruled  by 
an  onerous  and  exclusive  ecclesiastical  legislation,  the  near- 
est approach  to  the  union  of  church  and  state  that  this 
country  has  witnessed,  the  remnants  of  which  did  not  dis- 
appear in  Connecticut  until  1818  and  held  Massachusetts 
in  its  dying  grip  until  1834.    It  was  the  era  when  the  town 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  27 

conclaves  elected  the  Congregational  popes,  the  selection 
of  the  ministers  by  the  church  requiring  the  consent  and 
endorsement  of  the  town. 

It  is  needless  to  go  into  the  particulars  of  the  situa- 
tion any  further  than  to  say  that  Universalists,  with  others, 
suffered  in  this  way  and  taxation  without  religious  repre- 
sentation was  the  order  of  the  day.  It  has  always  been 
understood  that  this  necessity  developed  the  enactment  of 
the  Profession  to  give  us  standing  as  a  denominational 
body  before  the  law  and  to  mark  us  as  a  body  distinct  and 
separate  from  the  Congregationalists,  This  position  re- 
mained unchallenged  until  1874,  when,  as  against  the  re- 
corded testimony  of  previous  history,  Dr.  Eddy's  articles 
in  the  Universalist  Quarterly — 187-i-80 — developed  the  fact 
that  it  was  a  distinctive  plan  of  government  as  a  church, 
a  legal  organization,  and  not  the  adoption  of  a  creed  that 
was  the  sole  requirement  of  the  occasion.  This  contention, 
apparently  well  authenticated  by  the  manuscript  decision 
of  the  judge  who  rendered  the  decision  in  the  contested 
case  of  Erskine,  a  prominent  layman  of  New  Hampshire, 
surprised  many  who  had  implicit  confidence  in  the  denomi- 
national tradition,  endorsed  and  supported  by  men  who 
were  supposed  to  know  the  exact  facts  and  who  lived  a 
generation  before  the  new  contention  was  broached. 

We  may  accept  Dr.  Eddy's  contention,  so  well  fortified 
by  the  facts  that  he  adduces,  that  the  adoption  of  the  creed 
of  1803  cut  no  figure  in  the  case.  But  there  will  always  re- 
main perplexing  questions  to  be  settled  before  a  satisfactory 
solution  is  reached.  Why  the  prevalence  of  the  former 
view,  unquestioned,  from  1803  onward  to  our  own  time? 
How  does  it  happen  that  Nathaniel  Stacy,  a  visiting  mem- 


28  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

ber  of  the  Convention,  expressly  states  that  the  creed  was 
adopted  to  relieve  Universalists  from  this  burdensome 
taxation;  that  Thomas  Whittemore,  writing  in  1829  and 
again  in  1850,  declares  the  same;  that  Hosea  Ballon  al- 
lowed the  statement  to  pass  muster  and  grow  into  general 
circulation,  when  a  word  from  him  would  have  settled  the 
question?  If  there  was  any  question  about  it  previous  to 
the  year  1829  or  1830,  why  did  not  Whittemore  consult 
Ballou  ?  But  then,  on  the  other  hand,  should  not  the  judge 
who  presided  be  accorded  the  credit  of  understanding  the 
exact  legal  question  involved?  But  again,  the  existing 
creed,  already  adopted  in  1794,  and  incorporated  in  the 
records  of  the  Convention,  why  a  second  one?  We  pass 
these  interesting  questions  over  to  the  higher  critics  of  a 
hundred  years  hence,  who  will  have  considerable  to  do,  we 
are  sure,  if  they  know  their  business,  with  this  problem 
and  others  arising  out  of  our  early  history.  At  the  same 
time  we  are  pleased  to  know  that  this  old  tradition,  which 
represented  our  fathers  as  "whipping  the  devil  around  the 
stump"  on  this  taxation  business,  is  badly  shattered  by  Dr. 
Eddy  and  is  not  likely  to  hold  in  any  future  review  of  the 
case. 

But  now,  waiving  this  disputed  question,  there  was, 
we  may  be  confident,  deeper  and  even  more  significant 
reasons  for  adopting  the  profession  lying  back  of  all  this. 
"A  creed,"  remarks  Dr.  Schaff,  "is  the  response  of  man 
to  the  questions  of  God,"  and  Harnack  has  more  recently 
Baid  that  "the  inclination  to  formulate  the  content  of  re- 
ligion in  articles  of  faith  is  as  natural  to  Christianity  as 
the  effort  to  verify  these  articles  with  reference  to  science 
and  history."     These  words  indicate  the  relation  to  spir- 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  29 

itual  experience  that  brought  forth  our  profession.  It  was 
the  matured  response  of  Winchester  to  questions  of  God 
and  of  human  destiny.  These  men  had  come  into  posses- 
sion of  the  truth  of  God's  Universal  Love  and  his  benevo- 
lent purpose  in  the  salvation  of  all  souls,  and  why  should 
they  not  give  their  faith  expression  in  a  rational  and  be- 
lievable creed?  They  wrote  what  they  believed  because 
they  believed  something  and  could  express  it  in  more  satis- 
factory terms  than  heretofore.  It  was  the  natural  and  in- 
evitable result  of  their  new  found  faith,  the  sunburst  of  the 
divine  love  over  New  England !  A  new  Evangel  was 
abroad  in  the  land  from  henceforth,  conveying  a  blessing 
sufficient  to  create  a  soul  under  the  very  ribs  of  death. 

But  we  must  now  turn  again  to  some  controverted 
opinions.  At  times  in  our  history  it  has  been  asserted  that 
the  articles  were  intended  to  avoid  conflict  with  the  exist- 
ing remnant  of  the  opinions  of  the  system  of  John  Murray, 
who  was  a  Trinitarian  and  advocated  Trinitarian  Universal- 
ism,  and  the  future  punishment  views  of  Elhanan  Win- 
chester, both  of  whom  had  followers  in  the  Convention  of 
1803. 

It  has  been  claimed  several  times  in  our  history  that 
the  second  article  will  bear  a  Trinitarian  interpretation  on 
account  of  the  threefold  belief  expressed  therein,  that  of 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit.  But  it  was  far  and  away, 
we  may  be  sure,  from  the  purpose  of  the  framers  of  that 
article  to  refer  to  the  Trinity,  even  indirectly,  much  less 
to  sanction  it  by  what  they  express.  The  three  great  beliefs 
of  the  Christian  church — fundamental  and  universal  al- 
ways in  Christianity — are  affirmed,  but  they  are  expressed 
as  distinct  and  separate  objects  of  the  cardinal  faith  and 


30  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

can  not  be  deemed  an  equivalent  of  the  common  doctrine 
of  the  three  persons  in  the  one  Godhead  of  the  orthodox 
confessions.  There  is  no  hint  of  any  such  doctrine  in  the 
article. 

We  may — yea,  we  must — as  Christian  believers  hold  to 
the  faith  in  God  the  Father,  in  Christ  the  Eeedemer  and 
Lord,  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  three  great  pivotal 
points  in  the  religion  we  profess — may  our  church  never 
part  from  this  threefold  faith ! — but  this  does  not  conflict 
with  our  position  as  to  the  strict  unity  of  God.  "We  be- 
lieve in  one  God"  and  only  one.  That  made  us  Unitarian 
before  Unitarians  were  known  as  a  distinct  sect  in  this 
country.  And  it  is  a  Unitarian  of  the  Unitarians,  Dr. 
Frederic  D.  Hedge,  who  says  that  this  belief  in  the  Father, 
Son  and  Holy  Spirit  "embraces  and  oecumenizes  Christen- 
dom as  one  household  of  faith."  Dr.  Hedge,  moreover, 
further  says:  "But  if  Unitarianism  were  understood  to 
deny  the  doctrine  of  Father,  Son  and  Spirit,  or  even  to 
waive  and  ignore  it  as  unessential,  then  should  I  repudiate 
the  name,  renounce  the  connection,  and  desire  that  my 
name  were  expunged  from  the  muster-roll  of  that  com- 
munion."^ When  such  a  distinguished  Unitarian  as  Dr. 
Hedge  recognized  the  threefold  belief  as  historical  Chris- 
tianity and  held  to  it,  notwithstanding  his  Unitarian  opin- 
ions, Universalists  certainly  need  not  hesitate  to  accept  the 
faith,  notwithstanding  the  claim  that  it  identifies  us  in  its 
"affinities"  with  the  Trinitarian  sects. 

To  touch  upon  another  mooted  point,  namely,  the 
theory  that  the  articles  were  a  compromise  among  conflict- 
ing opinions,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  compromise  indi- 


i"Unitarian  Affirmations"  (Washington,  1879),  page  22. 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  31 

cates  postponement  of  crisis  as  well  as  concession.  There 
was  no  crisis  of  faith  impending  at  the  time  the  articles 
were  adopted,  and  no  need,  therefore,  for  an  adjustment 
of  the  beliefs  of  the  Winchester  fathers.  If  there  was  any 
crisis  at  all  in  1803,  it  related,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  civil 
powers  of  the  time  in  conflict  with  the  individual  rights 
of  Universalists.  We  know  that  there  were  many  crude 
opinions  held  and  substantial  differences  of  opinions  among 
those  assembled  in  1803.  We  might  make  a  creed  for  the 
Tower  of  Babel  out  of  the  vagaries  and  mysticisms  of 
Eellyan  Universalism  as  held  by  John  ]\Iurray  and  his 
followers.  It  would  be  a  hard-hearted  Calvinist,  indeed, 
who  would  not  be  satisfied  with  Winchester's  50,000  years 
of  future  punishment,  and  Hosea  Ballou  himself  had  not 
then  advanced  very  far  beyond  the  period  of  the  crude  and 
fanciful  interpretations  displayed  in  the  Notes  on  the 
Parables. 

It  was  well  recognized,  even  at  that  time,  that  Eestora- 
tionism  was  Universalism — with  delay  extending  into  the 
future.  No  one  ever  questioned  Winchester's  Universal- 
ism, plus  50,000  years  of  future  woe.  The  dear  man  was 
allowed  that  comforting  addition  to  his  hope  of  the  final 
heaven  without  any  impeachment.  The  fact  undoubtedly 
is  that  the  fathers  placed  the  word  "finally"  in  the  creed 
as  the  strongest  word  to  express  the  ultimate  result,  the 
crowning  consummation  of  all  redeeming  Love.  To  repre- 
sent it  as  a  compromise  is  not  to  be  entertained.  It  is 
probable  that  the  majority  held  to  some  degree  of  restor- 
ation as  the  condition  of  future  blessedness;  but  re- 
membering that  one  day  with  the  Lord  is  as  a  thousand  years, 
the  word  took  its  place  in  the  creed  as  the  most  decisive 


32  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

and  expressive  one  that  could  be  used.  It  was  chosen,  we 
may  believe,  not  as  a  refuge  from  any  complication,  but  as 
the  one  word  that  covered  the  Universalist  thought.  It 
does^  that  today  as  well  as  when  it  became  a  part  of  the 
creed. 

We  have  now  to  notice  three  occasions  in  our  later  his- 
tory when  the  creed  was  made  the  subject  of  discussion  in 
our  church,  growing  out  of  the  action  of  the  General  Con- 
vention. 

( 1 )  We  refer,  first,  to  the  Declaration  and  Interpreta- 
tion adopted  at  Baltimore  in  1867,  setting  forth  the  "evi- 
dent intention"  of  the  authors  of  this  confession  "to  affirm 
the  divine  authority  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Lordship 
of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  voting  this  interpretation  essential 
to  a  "sincere  acceptance  of  our  fellowship."  Although 
adopted  by  the  remarkable  vote  of  forty-nine  to  one,  this 
was  clearly  outside  of  the  province  of  legislation,  as  well 
as  a  work  of  supererogation.  The  Profession  means  exactly 
this  and  could  never  be  made  to  mean  anything  else,  regard 
being  had  to  its  exact  affirmations  and  the  accepted  mean- 
ing of  language.  If  one  interpretation  was  allowed,  there 
might  be  need  at  some  future  time  of  an  interpretation  of 
the  interpretation.    Winchester  needs  nothing  of  the  kind. 

In  case  any  seek  to  break  into  our  fellowship  by  evad- 
ing our  historical  position  as  to  Holy  Scripture  and  the 
Lordship,  or  take  any  advantage  of  its  broad  and  inclusive 
terms,  in  these  or  any  other  directions,  the  document  itself 
convicts  them  as  guilty  of  intellectual  dishonesty,  which  is 
worse  than  any  heresy.  It  seems  to  be  the  unwritten  policy 
of  our  church  to  let  the  responsibility  rest  on  all  such  in 
the  final  outcome. 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  38 

But  while  this  is  true,  there  are,  of  course,  reserved 
rights  implied  in  the  privilege  of  our  fellowship,  but  rarely 
exercised  in  our  history,  although  we  have  had  our  share 
of  eccentrics,  malcontents  and  disturbers.  John  Wesley 
once  ended  a  protracted  debate  among  his  followers  by  re- 
marking :  "I  have  no  right  to  object  to  a  man  for  holding  a 
different  opinion  from  me  than  1  have  to  differ  with  a  man 
because  he  wears  a  wig  instead  of  his  own  hair;  but  if  he 
takes  his  wig  off  and  begins  to  shake  the  powder  in  my 
eyes,  and  makes  me  sneeze,  I  shall  consider  it  my  duty  to 
get  rid  of  him  as  soon  as  possible." 

(2)  In  1870,  our  centennial  year,  on  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  General  Convention,  the  Winchester  creed  was 
made  a  part  of  our  constitutional  law  and  enacted  as  a  con- 
dition of  fellowship.  While  this,  as  we  have  seen,  was  not 
intended  by  the  original  framers,  it  was  a  wise  action  at 
the  time,  the  strongest  possible  reinforcement  of  our  doc- 
trinal position.  It  was  a  notification  to  the  world  that  we 
were  not  a  church  of  all  outdoors,  but  that  American  Uni- 
versalism  had  a  creedal  incarnation,  with  a  heritage  of  rec- 
ognized beliefs,  from  the  beginning  of  the  century. 

Previous  to  this,  the  Winchester  declaration  was  not 
widely  known  among  the  new  generation.  It  was  hence- 
forth to  be  recognized  as  our  denominational  platform,  and 
believers  were  summoned  to  follow  the  flag  and  do  service 
under  the  recognized  banner  of  a  church  that  had  a  definite 
Christian  work  before  it  in  the  new  century  of  TJniversal- 
ism  then  opening  with  promise.  Churches  were  to  be  or- 
ganized and  ministers  trained  and  educated  under  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  a  recognized  system  of  faith  and  in  the 
name  of  a  church  that  embraced  the  largest  hope  for  man- 


34  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

kind.  The  years  that  we  wrought  under  that  organization, 
with  the  Winchester  creed  at  the  heart,  record  a  progress 
far  beyond  all  the  achievements  of  the  previous  century. 
It  has  witnessed  our  growth  in  all  the  material  essentials 
and  resources  of  the  organized  church  and  made  us  what 
we  are  today.  That  record  should  be  carefully  studied  by 
the  younger  ministers  of  our  church. 

A  new  generation  has  come  upon  the  stage  of  action 
since  that  time.  It  is  well  nigh  on  to  forty  years  ago,  and 
many,  too  many,  of  the  devoted  men  who  led  the  victorious 
movement  for  the  present  organization  of  our  church,  con- 
summated in  1870,  rest  from  their  labors  and  now  belong 
to  the  "General  Assembly  and  church  of  the  first  born  who 
are  written  in  heaven."  We  can  not  call  the  long  and  honor- 
able roll  of  these  departed  worthies,  but  we  remember 
gratefully  Elbridge  Gerry  Brooks,  Alonzo  Ames  Miner  and 
William  Henry  Eyder  as  pre-eminent  organizers  in  the 
heritage  which  has  been  handed  down  to  us. 

(3)  We  speak,  in  the  third  place,  of  the  controversy 
in  our  own  day  to  remove  the  word  "Eestore"  in  the  second 
article  involving,  as  it  was  asserted,  the  Calvinistic  doc- 
trine of  the  disaster  in  Eden,  of  which  the  serpent  was  the 
instrument  and  the  devil  the  primary  cause,  the  fall  and 
a  ruined  ancestry  being  the  direful  result.  It  was  charged 
that  the  fathers  held  this  belief  and  placed  the  word  in  the 
creed  to  set  forth  a  return  to  the  favor  of  God  of  our  fallen 
race.  We  refer  to  this  controversy  with  no  desire  to  revive 
it  in  any  of  its  relations,  but  it  belongs  to  history. 

That  controversy  was  at  first  as  the  shadow  of  a  man's 
hand  on  the  horizon,  but  grew  by  what  it  fed  upon,  as  all 
such  controversies  do,  until  it  became  a  serious  menace  to 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  35 

our  peace  and  for  years  interfered  with  our  common  work. 
As  the  debate  progressed,  it  was  seen  that  "restore"  was 
not  the  objectionable  word,  although  it  had  to  bear  the 
brunt  of  the  conflict.  When  the  Psalmist  said,  for  exam- 
ple, "Eestore  unto  me  the  joy  of  thy  salvation,"  and  af- 
firmed with  holy  delight,  "He  restoreth  my  soul,"  he  had 
no  reference,  we  may  be  sure,  to  the  doctrine  of  the  fall 
embraced  in  the  orthodox  creeds. 

Nor  is  there  any  evidence  that  the  framers  of  the  creed 
held  to  this  particular  doctrine  of  the  federal  headship  of 
Adam,  with  its  ruinous  consequences.  That  man  had 
strayed  from  primeval  innocence  and  fallen  into  sin  and 
needed  restoration  was  conceivable,  without  charging  them 
with  the  acceptance  of  a  belief  which  must  have  appeared 
to  them  as  immoral  and  irrational.  It  is  equally  true, 
moreover,  that  they  did  not  believe  in  what  is  expressed  by 
the  vicious  epigram  of  Theodore  Parker  that  "every  fall 
is  a  fall  upwards."  Such  a  statement  would  have  been 
spurned  by  these  devout  men,  to  whom  sin  was  a  reality 
and  the  grace  of  God  its  only  antidote. 

The  debate  turned,  we  all  remember,  on  "restoration 
to  holiness,"  and  on  this  the  final  argument  rested.  This 
marks  the  one  point  in  which  the  Winchester  articles  are  cer- 
tainly vulnerable.  This  was  the  "fault"  in  the  fine  vein 
of  the  creed,  the  flaw  in  the  diamond,  the  one  verbal  error 
which  mars  the  masterly  work.  Holiness  is  an  achieve- 
ment of  personal  character.  It  has  to  be  worked  out  in 
personal  development,  as  an  attainment  of  righteousness 
and  accomplishment  of  spiritual  life.  You  can  not  restore 
to  holiness  for  3'ou  can  not  reinstate  a  condition  that  exists 


36  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

only  in  and  by  personal  achievement.  Eestoration  to 
happiness  is  conceivable,  but  not  the  former. 

But  how  all  this  oppresses  us,  even  as  a  reminiscence 
of  the  debate  in  which  our  church  was  for  many  years  en- 
gaged !  We  rejoice  that  it  is  now  happily  ended  and  ful- 
filling the  splendid  image  of  Burke,  which  Dean  Stanley 
was  fond  of  quoting:  "Old  religious  controversies,"  said 
Burke,  "are  volcanoes  burned  out;  on  the  lava  and  ashes 
and  squalid  scoriae  of  old  eruptions  grow  the  peaceful 
olive,  the  cheering  vine  and  the  soothing  corn."  Let  us 
believe  in  the  olive,  the  vine  and  the  corn. 

Out  of  this  prolonged  discussion,  extending  over  many 
years — a  debate  by  far  the  ablest  in  our  history — emerged, 
as  another  instance  of  the  "soul  of  goodness  in  things 
evil,"  the  action  first  proposed  at  Chicago  and  finally  ap- 
proved and  adopted  by  the  Boston  Convention  of  1899. 
Efforts  to  change  the  creed  were  fruitless;  every  change 
proposed  was  defeated  by  decisive  votes.  The  old  creed  was 
found  too  strongly  entrenched  in  the  affections  of  the  peo- 
ple to  permit  even  amendment  of  the  time-honored  phrase- 
ology. 

It  was  in  this  extremity  that  the  old  light  flashed  anew 
from  Winchester  to  guide  our  church  into  the  safe  haven  of 
1803.  The  creed  was  taken  out  of  its  mandatory  relations 
in  the  law  of  the  church  and  returned  to  its  true  historical 
setting,  requiring  only  allegiance  to  its  principles  and  al- 
lowing full  play  for  the  expression  of  individual  and  parish 
belief.  The  Five  Principles  were  adopted  as  an  alternate 
declaration,  with  the  Winchester  articles  unchanged  as 
the  original  symbol,  to  remain  as  a  classic,  without  binding 
authority  as  to  exact  words,  but  with  its  unescapable  con- 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  37 

elusions  as  to  Christian  doctrine  remaining,  to  stand  in 
silent  judgment  on  all  future  administrations  of  Universal- 
ism  in  the  Universalist  Church,  Peace  has  since  spread  her 
white  wings  over  the  united  church. 

And  just  here  we  may,  for  the  nonce,  recall  as  an  illus- 
tration how  history  repeats  itself  in  small  as  well  as  great 
things,  that  the  Westminster  divines  of  the  seventeenth 
century  were  commanded  by  King  James  and  the  Parlia- 
ment to  revise  the  articles  of  the  Church  of  England. 
They  could  not  agree  in  the  revision,  but  wrote  instead, 
after  the  deliberation  of  more  than  five  years,  the  West- 
minster Confession.^  Our  revisionists  could  not  change 
the  Winchester  articles ;  they  wrote  instead  the  Five  Princi- 
ples, adding:  ''The  Winchester  Profession  is  commended 
as  containing  these  principles,"  but  this  is  a  conspicuous 
error.  The  Profession  does  not  "contain"  either  the  mat- 
ter or  the  thought  of  the  fourth  specification  relating  to 
"Eetribution,"  whether  it  may  be  esteemed  a  "principle" 
or  otherwise. 

Will  these  five  points  of  the  faith  stand  for  a  hundred 
years  ?  Possibly ;  but  not,  we  venture  to  say,  with  that  un- 
fortunate word  "Eetribution"  included  in  their  categories 
— a  word  conceived  in  the  very  spirit  of  the  Latin  theology, 
whose  synonyms  are  vengeance  and  retaliation,  a  word  con- 
sequently opposed  to  the  spirit  in  which  the  loving  God 
deals  with  his  children  and  that  is  entirely  separated  in 
theological  significance  from  the  thought  of  future  re- 
demptive influences — not,  we  say,  with  this  word  included, 
and  with  the  unaccountable  omission  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 

^Westminster  Assembly  Addresses,   1898. 


38  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

which,  thank  God,  was  not  forgotten  by  tlie  framers  of  the 
old  creed. 

"Hail,"  then  we  say  to  the  men  of  Winchester!  In 
Matthew  Arnold's  words,  in  another  connection : 

"Hail  to  the  courage  which  gave 
Voice  to  the  creed,  ere  the  creed 
Won   consecration   from   time." 

And  so  they  went  forth  bearing  their  precious  mes- 
sage amid  the  valleys  and  hills  of  New  England,  in  the 
mountain  towns  of  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire  and  into 
loyal  and  responsive  Maine ;  again  following  the  Connecti- 
cut Valley  and  into  New  York  on  the  line  of  the  Hudson 
and  the  central  part  of  the  state  and  the  Mohawk,  where 
these  preachers  of  an  Unlimited  Gospel  planted  the  seed 
of  prosperous  parishes. 

The  Iliad  of  the  first  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  of 
the  nineteenth  century  has  not  been  written,  recording  the 
story  of  these  early  defenders  of  Universal  Salvation  and 
their  pioneer  brethren  of  the  West,  with  that  of  the  devout 
laymen,  some  of  them  descendants  of  revolutionary ,  sires, 
who,  after  adoption  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  flocked  into 
the  new  lands  of  the  Connecticut  Western  Reserve,  and  the 
others  also,  who,  in  this  notable  year  of  1803,  founded 
Ohio,  the  early  settlement  at  Marietta  being  made  by  the 
descendants  of  Gen.  Israel  Putnam,  Universalists  who  had 
received  the  faith  from  the  New  England  preachers,  with 
Timothy  Bigelow,  an  old  Winchester  pastor,  as  the  first 
Universalist  preacher  of  the  state — this  story  has  not  been 
written  in  its  fulness,  but  some  future  generation  may 
listen  to  its  refreshing  and  inspiring  strains. 

But  it  is  high  time  to  fling  a  thought  ahead.     How 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  39 

stands  Winchester  today  amid  the  changes  in  theological 
opinion?  "Human  thought/'  says  Lamartine,  "like  God, 
makes  the  world  in  its  own  image."  If  this  be  true,  may  we 
not  conclude  that  the  thought  of  our  forefathers  is  ful- 
filling a  like  mission  today  and  that  it  has  done  its  part  in 
the  mighty  change  in  religious  opinions  which  the  century 
has  wrought? 

It  would  be  an  easy  task  to  show,  if  time  permitted, 
how  the  Christian  world  is  approximating  to  the  exact  doc- 
trines of  the  Winchester  declaration,  and  our  modern 
Christianity  verifying  its  credentials  anew  by  an  appeal  to 
the  principles  therein  laid  down  as  the  faith  of  our  church. 

The  undoubted  trend  of  thought  shows  that  things 
are  rapidly  coming  our  way.  The  Universal  Fatherhood  of 
God  is  now  proclaimed  from  the  housetops  of  Orthodoxy, 
and  while  many  of  the  clear-sighted  recognize  this  as  log- 
ically involving  Universalism,  it  is  accepted  nevertheless. 
The  spiritual  authority  and  leadership  of  Jesus  Christ  is  not 
denied  even  by  those  who  repudiate  the  supernatural 
claims  of  Christianity.  The  trustworthiness  of  Holy 
Scripture  as  containing  a  revelation  is  conceded  in  many 
directions  as  affording  a  basis  for  the  only  defensible  the- 
ory of  inspiration.  As  against  verbal  inspiration.  President 
Bascom  declares,  "There  is  no  reason  why  the  casket  (the 
Bible)  should  be  more  precious  than  the  truth  it  contains." 
Then  as  to  our  one  resplendent  truth  of  the  final  holiness 
and  happiness,  not  many  intelligent  observers  of  the  signs 
of  the  times  will  object  to  the  statement  that  Universalism 
is,  at  the  present  day,  the  most  widely  diffused  sentiment, 
not  included  as  an  article  of  the  orthodox  faith,  in  the 
whole  range  of  modern  religious  belief. 


40  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Goldwin  Smith  is  on  record  as  declaring,  substan- 
tially, that  one  of  the  notable  events  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury is  the  establishment  of  Universalism  as  a  religious 
faith,  and  John  Fiske  paused,  amid  his  studies  of  Evolu- 
tion, to  commend  the  Winchester  Profession. 

Eeginald  Campbell  has  recently  crossed  the  Atlantic, 
bearing  the  message  to  his  Congregational  brethren  in  this 
country  that  Universalism  is  permeating  the  Evangelical 
churches  of  England.  We  knew  that  before  he  came,  and 
the  same  testimony  could  as  truthfully  be  rendered  in  re- 
lation to  the  American  churches.  "If  God  succeeds,"  says 
Dr.  Gordon,  of  Boston,  one  of  the  brightest  minds  among 
the  Congregationalists,  "If  God  succeeds,  universal  salva- 
tion will  be  the  result."  That  is  what  our  Universalist 
fathers  always  contended,  and  when  the  question  is  reduced 
to  this  alternative  it  will  not  be  difficult  to  foretell  the 
final  outcome.  God  will  succeed,  says  Universalism, 
though  every  pillar  of  orthodoxy  falls  and  crumbles  into 
dust.  He  can  have  no  rival  in  his  blessed  sovereignty  over 
the  world  of  souls,  nor  permit  a  severed  and  divided  hu- 
manity to  exist  as  an  everlasting  token  of  his  failure. 

Eemembering  that  our  forecast  on  this  jubilee  occasion 
has  to  stand  and  be  judged  at  the  other  end  of  Time's  Whis- 
pering Gallery,  we  venture  the  prediction  that  by  the  end 
of  another  hundred  years,  the  idea  of  an  endless  punish- 
ment in  any  form,  medieval  or  modern,  will  be  obsolete 
among  all  Protestant  churches,  and  that  Universalism,  even 
if  not  everywhere  received,  will  resume  the  place  it  occu- 
pied in  the  faith  of  the  early  church,  when  it  was  held  by 
the  "Merciful  Doctors"  and  saints  without  the  reproach 
of  heresy  and  as  a  prevailing  faith. 


WINCHESTER  PROFESSION.  41 

It  is  the  one  great  interpretation  of  the  Gospel  that 
can  not  be  side-tracked  or  lost  sight  of  amid  the  impending 
changes  of  the  religious  world.  Even  now,  while  still  un- 
recognized, it  is  steadily  winning  its  way  to  its  coronal 
position  as  "the  heir  of  all  the  ages  in  the  foremost  files 
of  Time."  Its  only  possible  rival  for  supremacy  is  the  dark 
contention,  sometimes  called  "the  alternate  theory"  of  the 
final  extinction  of  sinful  and  unyielding  souls  and  their 
consequent  failure  to  achieve  immortality.  In  this  case 
God  also  signally  fails,  for  he  is  represented  as  not  per- 
petuating the  spark  of  his  own  divine  life  which  he  has 
set  aflame  in  the  souls  of  his  children. 

James  Martineau  somewhat  mournfully  says :  "In 
the  education  of  our  race  it  is  inevitable  that  the  children 
should  outgrow  the  father's  house  and  emigrate  to  new 
lands  of  thought;  and  could  the  men  of  old  come  back 
among  us  and  look  at  us  with  their  patriarchal  eyes,  who 
knows  but  that  we  might  ask  their  blessing  in  vain,  and 
Abraham,  perchance,  would  be  ignorant  of  us  and  Israel 
acknowledge  us  not." 

Martineau's  prognostic  might  be  accepted  if  we  did 
not  believe  that  in  Universalism  we  have  reached  ultimate 
results  as  to  destiny;  the  point  beyond  which,  in  this  par- 
ticular at  least,  further  advance  is  not  conceivable.  We  are 
here  on  the  solid  bed-rock  of  conviction  and  faith.  We 
ask  reverently  for  the  scrutiny  of  patriarchal  e3^es  on  us 
here  assembled  for  the  centennial  observance.  We  rejoice 
in  the  belief  that  our  fathers  will  not  regard  ns  as  having 
strayed  from  the  old  fold  on  any  spiritual  emigration,  even 
in  the  third  generation  from  their  time.  Nor  do  we  antici- 
pate any  future  time  when  Abraham  will  be  ignorant  of  us 


42  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

and  Israel  acknowledge  us  not.  Even  while  it  is  conceded 
that  we  live  in  a  time  when  there  is  sure  to  come  a  recon- 
struction of  all  religious  beliefs,  we  have  no  doubt  as  to  the 
permanency  of  the  Christian  faith  which  this  church  repre- 
sents. 

Neither  the  new  philosophy,  nor  the  advance  of  Bib- 
lical criticism,  nor  yet  the  popular  sociological  theories 
which  some  believe  are  to  supercede  Christianity,  en- 
dangers the  ancient  Winchester  Faith;  on  the  contrary, 
they  may  enrich,  enlarge  and  re-establish  it  for  the  benefit 
of  future  generations.  Holy  Scripture  will  still  contain, 
and  breathe  out  to  receptive  minds,  the  word  of  truth. 
Man,  while  he  remains  a  sinner,  will  always  need  restora- 
tion to  divine  favor.  God  will  still  be  transcendent  over 
and  in  his  creation,  and  revealed  in  fatherhood;  and  just 
as  nature  is  the  expression  of  the  divine  immanence,  so  the 
Christ  will  remain  as  the  translation  of  God  in  the  terms 
of  human  experience.  By  his  immanence,  the  transcendent 
God  will  also  continue  to  speak  in  the  articulate  words  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  new  Pentecost  of  a  thousand  tongues 
in  nature,  experience  and  the  soul  of  man,  while  all  things 
shall  tend  onward  to  the  universal  harmony  of  a  reconciled 
universe.    Then 

"Earth  rolls  her  rapturous  hosannah's  round." 


SPEAKERS  AT  THE  CENTENNIAL— II. 


CHARLES     ELLWOOD    NASH. — AT    WASHINGTON. 
ROSEA    W.    PARKER.  JOHN   COLEMAN   ADAMS. 

ISAAC  M.  ATWOOD. 


The  New  Test  of  Our  Faith/ 

JOHN  COLEMAN  ADAMS,  D.  D. 

When  I  was  asked  to  "prophesy"  I  was  at  a  loss  to 
know  what  I  was  to  do.  I  have  no  gift  of  second-sight. 
I  can  not  even  forecast  my  own  behavior  twenty-four  hours 
at  a  time.  My  only  attempts  at  anticipating  the  event 
are  in  the  way  of  guessing  about  the  weather;  and  this 
favorite  amusement  frequently  turns  out  another  name  for 
blundering.  I  recalled  what  George  Eliot  calls  prophecy — 
"the  most  gratuitous  form  of  error" — and  I  made  up  my 
mind  that  this  could  not  be  what  your  program  committee 
wanted  of  me.  So,  as  I  often  do  in  times  of  perplexity,  I 
opened  the  dictionary  for  light.  I  found  that  to 
"prophesy"  meant  "to  declare  or  to  interpret  the  divine 
will ;"  also  "to  warn,  exhort,  and  comfort."  In  such 
prophecy  as  this  I  felt  myself  more  at  home.  It  is  the 
business  of  my  life.  And  so  today  all  I  hope  to  do,  as 
prophet,  is  what  the  bearers  of  that  name  and  office  did 
in  Old  Testament  days — to  declare,  to  interpret,  to  warn, 
exhort,  and  comfort — in  brief,  to  preach.  And  this  is 
what  I  feel  called  to  prophesy:  The  spirit  of  the  Lord 
came  to  John  the  son  of  John.  And  he  opened  his  mouth 
and  spake,  saying: 

f  count  it  one  of  the  privileges  of  a  lifetime  to  be 
present  on  this  day  in  this  place,  to  assist  in  this  com- 
memoration.   To  my  mind  the  adoption  of  the  Winchester 


'Address    at    Winchester    Centennial,    Thursday    morning,    October    1. 
1903,  announced  on  the  program  as  "Prophecies." 

(43) 


44  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Profession  of  Belief  was  one  of  the  chief  events  in  the 
theological  history  of  this  country.  It  was  the  birth  of 
the  new  theology.  The  Profession  v/as  the  first  explicit 
statement  in  the  form  of  creed,  or  articles,  or  profession,  of 
the  great  fundamentals  of  what  has  come  to  be  known  as 
"liberal  Christianity,"  or  the  "new  orthodoxy,"  or  "broad 
church  theology."  It  was  at  once  the  Magna  Charta  and 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  Broad  Church  in 
America.  For  it  both  affirmed  the  new  principles  which 
had  been  for  nearly  a  century  working  themselves  out  in 
the  religious  consciousness  of  the  land,  and  it  sounded  the 
note  of  freedom  from  the  "standing  order"  of  the  church, 
and  ran  up  the  colors  of  an  independent  body,  resting  on 
the  new  principles  affirmed.  This  priority  of  our  fathers 
in  the  faith  is  an  honor  of  which  we  can  not  be  too  proud, 
for  which  we  can  not  be  too  thankful.  Winchester  was 
the  place  where  the  new  theology — the  theology  which 
starts  from  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  proceeds  to  the  uni- 
versal harmony  of  the  moral  creation — was  first  set  forth 
in  a  creed.  Walter  Ferriss  and  those  associates  of  his  who 
formed  that  famous  convention  were  the  men  responsible 
for  this  signal  event.  I  do  not  think  that  the  "Philadel- 
phia Articles"  ought  to  be  granted  priority  in  this  count, 
for  they  voiced  the  sentiments  of  a  body  not  yet  out  of 
thrall  to  the  old  theology — a  body  made  up  of  believers  in 
the  Trinity  and  the  Vicarious  Atonement.  But  the  men 
who  stood  behind  the  Winchester  Profession  were  men  who 
had  come  out  into  the  new  light  and  lined  up  to  the  new 
views  of  Hosea  Ballon ;  and  these  are  the  views  which  have 
been  gaining  ground  steadily  for  a  hundred  years. 

The  first  explicit  statement  of  the  new  faith,  in  Amer- 


NEW  TEST  OF  FAITH.  45 

ica,  was  dated  at  Winchester,  September  the  twenty-second, 
1803.  These  walls  looked  down  upon  a  scene  destined  to  be 
most  memorable  in  the  religious  history  of  our  land.  Let 
us  preserve  them  sacredly,  for  a  wiser  and  less  prejudiced 
generation  than  ours  will  make  pilgrimages  hither  as 
patriots  now  flock  to  Independence  Hall.  Twelve  years 
before  Jedediah  Morse's  book  on  "American  Unitarianism" 
forced  the  liberals  in  the  Congregational  body  out  of  their 
negative  attitude  and  hastened  their  separation  from  the 
Trinitarian  churches,  and  seventeen  years  before  the  Berry 
Street  Conference — the  first  gathering  of  these  Unitarian 
ministers  for  mutual  counsel  and  support — the  Winches- 
ter Profession  of  Belief  was  put  forth  to  express  the  faith 
of  the  ministers  and  churches,  already  overwhelmingly  Uni- 
tarian, who  were  following  Hosea  Ballou  into  the  territory 
of  the  new,  the  emancipated,  the  reconstructed  theology, 
soon  to  be  set  forth  in  the  "Treatise  on  Atonement."  Sixty- 
three  years  before  Horace  Bushnell  published  his  work  on 
"The  Vicarious  Sacrifice  Grounded  in  Principles  of  Uni- 
versal Obligation"  these  men  were  teaching  and  preach- 
ing all  the  essentials  of  his  doctrine,  today  openly  held  in 
pretty  much  all  the  Congregationalist  churches.  Seventy- 
four  years  before  Frederick  Farrar's  sermons  on  "Eternal 
Hope,"  which  have  been  so  widely  read  and  so  influential 
in  this  country,  these  men  had  reached  the  same  broad  in- 
terpretations which  they  embody,  and  were  preaching  them 
wherever  hearing  could  be  had.  They  were,  in  simple  truth, 
the  vanguard  of  the  new  theology.  They  stood  for  the 
universal  fatherhood  of  God ;  for  man's  sonship  to  God,  as 
typified  in  Jesus  Christ ;  for  the  atonement  as  the  reconcil- 
iation of  man  to  God ;  for  the  certainty  of  retribution,  here 


46  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

or  hereafter ;  for  the  final  harmony  of  all  souls  with  God. 
They  were  the  first  to  write  into  a  formal  statement  of 
faith  the  bold  outlines  of  the  new  theology  whose  corner- 
stone was  Divine  Love  and  whose  capstone  was  a  redeemed 
human  family.  When  all  the  creeds  shall  have  been  revised 
into  conformity  with  these  great  truths;  when  the  new 
thought  shall  have  asserted  itself  in  every  church  in  Amer- 
ica; when  the  scales  shall  fall  from  the  eyes  of  believers 
everywhere,  the  historians  of  another  century  will  direct 
their  steps  to  Winchester  church,  to  study  and  record  the 
events  we  commemorate,  and  will  engross  in  characters  of 
gold  the  famous  document  which  was  here  proclaimed. 

But  it  was  not  only  a  priority  of  statement  which  enti- 
tles the  framers  of  the  Winchester  Profession  to  honor. 
They  should  receive  the  largest  credit  as  the  advance  guard 
of  the  organizations  which  were  to  stand  in  line  of  battle 
in  behalf  of  the  new  theology.  This  brighter  day  of 
emancipated  minds  and  hearts  is  not  a  free  gift  into  whose 
benefits  men  have  come  without  struggle  or  cost.  We  can 
not  too  often  repeat  that  ancient  sentence,  "The  blood  of 
the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  church."  The  old  theology 
did  not  slacken  its  grip  until  it  was  resisted,  disputed, 
denied  and  defied.  There  are  those  who  would  minimize 
the  work  of  these  pioneers  by  asserting  that  they  did  but 
little  for  a  doctrine  which  was  in  the  air  and  would  have 
prevailed  without  them.  It  might  as  justly  be  said  that 
the  United  States  of  America  would  have  come  into  being 
without  the  Declaration  of  Independence  or  the  revolu- 
tionary army.  Neither  theological  nor  political  revolutions 
happen.  They  are  thought  out,  wrought  out,  and,  if  need 
be,  fought  out.     There  is  always  some  man  or  group  of 


NEW  TEST  OF  FAITH.  47 

men  who  set  them  on  foot.  These  men  were  the  van  of 
the  coming  host  which  was  to  overthrow  in  the  hearts  of 
the  American  people  the  theology  of  Edwards  and  Hopkins 
and  Emmons,  and  lay  the  foundations  for  the  broad  church 
of  Bushnell  and  Beecher  and  Brooks.  Let  me  emphasize 
this  assertion,  because  the  old  habit  persists  of  belittling 
all  that  Universalists  have  done  in  the  reformation  of 
American  theology.  The  times  justify  the  plainest  speak- 
ing. It  is  the  fashion  of  our  day  to  admit  the  truth  for 
which  the  Universalist  Church  has  contended,  but  to  forget 
the  fact  that  Universalists  did  battle  for  them.  Channing 
is  lauded,  but  Murray  and  Ballon  are  ignored.  Unitarian- 
ism  is  credited  with  all  the  work ;  the  partnership  of  Uni- 
rersalism  is  passed  over  in  silence  that  can  be  heard.  Bush- 
nell's  "Vicarious  Sacrifice"  is  reread  with  approval,  while 
Ballou's  "Treatise  on  Atonement"  gathers  dust  on  the 
library  shelves.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  is  eulogized — or 
anathematized — as  the  chief  advocate  in  this  land  of  the 
doctrine  of  God's  universal  fatherhood — while  it  is  conven- 
iently forgotten  that  the  Chrysostom  of  the  American 
church,  Edwin  Hubbell  Chapin,  was  contemporaneously 
preaching  to  a  public  as  large  the  same  noble  faith,  and 
the  pulpit  from  which  he  preached  was  significantly  named 
"The  Church  of  the  Divine  Paternity."  The  positions  of 
Universalist  exegetes  and  church  historians  are  one  by  one 
occupied  by  evangelical  scholars;  but  nobody  hears  the 
names  of  Hosea  Ballon  2d,  or  Lucius  R.  Paige,  or  John 
Wesley  Hanson  mentioned  as  the  real  pioneers  in  discov- 
ering these  positions.  Last  of  all,  and  most  astounding  of 
all  theories  of  the  modification  of  New  England  orthodoxy, 
Jonathan  Edwards  himself  is  led  to  the  front  as  the  real 


48  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

and  original  author  of  the  new  theology ;  as  if  Lucifer  were 
to  be  introduced  into  the  economy  of  the  scheme  of  salva- 
tion as  the  chief  agent  of  his  own  overthrow. 

Dr.  Allen,  in  his  masterly  life  of  Edwards,  affirms 
that  "It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  he  is  a  forerunner 
of  the  later  New  England  transcendentalism  quite  as  truly 
as  the  author  of  a  modified  Calvinism/'  and  he  names 
Thomas  Erskine,  McLeod  Campbell  and  Frederick  Maurice 
as  "the  true  continuators  of  the  work  of  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards." And  Dr.  Gordon,  himself  rejoicing  in  all  the 
premises  of  Universalism,  from  which,  however,  he  refuses 
to  draw  any  conclusion,  declares  that  "Edwards  is  the  great 
abettor  of  a  new  revolution  in  theology."  Far  be  it  from 
me  to  deny  the  efficiency  of  any  one  of  these  agents  or 
forces  to  which  attention  is  now  being  drawn  or  to  slight 
their  influence  as  agencies  under  God  in  the  destruction 
of  the  old  New  England  theology,  the  orthodoxy  of  Amer- 
ica in  the  last  century.  But  something  is  due  to  truth  and 
to  fairness  and  to  historic  justice.  And  this  occasion  is  a 
fitting  time  to  remind  ourselves  and  our  neighbors  who 
will  listen,  that  the  first  organized  body  to  wheel  into  line 
of  battle  against  the  dreary  theology  which  the  eighteenth 
century  bequeathed  to  the  nineteenth,  were  the  Universal- 
ists,  flying  the  flag  of  the  old  Winchester  Profession.  And 
they  have  been  at  the  right  of  the  firing  line  ever  since. 

I  suppose  it  may  seem  a  paradox  to  talk  of  Jonathan 
Edwards  as  in  any  wise  contributory  to  the  Larger  Faith 
save  as  he,  more  than  any  other,  created  the  revolt  against 
the  Smaller  Faith  which  it  is  so  rapidly  replacing.  But 
there  is  far  more  in  this  opposition  than  at  first  appears. 
The  backbone  of  Edwards'  theology,  into  which  all  minor 


NEW  TEST  OF  FAITH.  49 

doctrines  are  articulated,  is  the  sovereignty  of  God.  He 
could  not  endure  to  have  the  power  of  man  and  of  his  will 
asserted  at  the  expense  of  God.  "To  establish  forever," 
says  Dr.  Gordon,  "in  sunlight  clearness  and  certainty  the 
absoluteness  of  God,  Edwards  wrote  his  great  essay  (on 
the  will)."  It  was  the  theologians  of  the  Universalist 
Church  who  first  saw  and  pointed  out,  with  a  clearness  just 
as  luminous,  that  the  sovereignty  and  absoluteness  of  God 
could  never  be  vindicated  save  in  the  reconciliation  of  the 
human  to  the  divine.  The  great  theologian  is  indebted  to 
the  men  whose  doctrines  he  hated  for  saving  his  own  sys- 
tem from  logical  wreck  and  complete  oblivion.  If  there 
is  to  be  a  revival  of  the  Edwardian  theology,  as  seems  pos- 
sible, it  will  be  a  revival  of  only  that  part  of  it  which 
exalts  God  and  his  sovereignty,  and  that  other  part  in 
which  he  asserts  that  love  is  the  very  center  and  core  of 
the  divine  nature.  And  when  that  strange  renaissance 
shall  have  taken  place  it  will  be  in  order  for  those  who 
are  bringing  it  about  to  make  their  acknowledgments  to  the 
men  who  first  presented  these  two  halves  of  Edwards'  sys- 
tem in  their  proper  relation  and  deduced  from  them  the 
doctrine  of  the  final  harmony  of  all  souls  with  God. 

Edwards  had  a  disciple  in  thought,  who  detected  and 
repaired  the  flaw  in  his  theology  a  hundred  years  ago.  His 
name  was  Hosea  Ballou.  There  is  very  much  in  the  writ- 
ings and  in  the  system  of  our  great  theologian  to  remind 
one  of  Edwards  and  to  show  that,  whether  he  had  read  his 
writings  or  not,  Hosea  Ballou  had  been  reared  in  an  atmos- 
phere in  which  he  continually  breathed  the  philosophy  of 
the  Northampton  logician.  He  had  the  same  conviction 
of  the  sovereignty  of  God.    He  accepted  Edwards'  doctrine 


60  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

of  the  will  to  a  large  degree.  He  is  dealing  continually 
with  a  theological  situation  for  which  Edwards  was  largely 
responsible.  And  in  many  ways  he  simply  arrayed  Edwards 
against  himself,  appealing  from  Philip  drunk  to  Philip 
sober.  He  was  the  truest  exponent  of  what  was  truest  in 
Edwards,  because  he  seized  the  real  core  of  Edwards'  theol- 
ogy and  deduced  from  it  a  proper  anthropology.  He,  to 
Edwards'  high  conception  of  God,  added  a  true  doctrine 
about  man.  He  reconciled  the  contradictories  of  Edwards' 
theology,  as  Edwards  himself  never  could,  in  one  sentence 
in  the  "Atonement."  "Which  reflects  the  most  honor  on 
the  divine  character,  to  contend  that  it  was  necessary  for 
him  to  create  millions  of  rational  beings  to  hate  him  and 
every  communication  he  makes  to  them  to  all  eternity,  to 
live  in  endless  rebellion  against  him  and  endure  inconceiva- 
ble torments  as  long  as  God  exists,  or  to  suppose  him  able 
and  willing  to  make  all  his  rational  creatures  love  and 
adore  him,  yield  obedience  to  his  divine  law,  and  exist  in 
union  and  happiness  with  himself."  In  a  word,  he  saw 
that  to  save  the  glory  and  honor  of  God  we  must  believe 
in  the  salvation  of  all  his  children.  Edwards  did  not  be- 
lieve that  the  Great  Absolute  whom  he  called  God  could 
be  under  any  obligations  whatsoever  to  his  creatures.  "If 
God  is  pleased  to  show  mercy  to  his  haters,"  he  says,  "it  is 
certainly  fit  that  he  should  do  it  in  a  sovereign  way,  not 
acting  as  if  in  any  Avay  obliged."  Ballou,  on  the  other 
hand,  truly  conceived  God  as  bound  by  his  very  fatherhood, 
and  obligated  to  all  that  fatherhood  requires  and  imposes. 
"To  say  that  he  did  not  intend  good,"  says  Ballou,  "to  all 
whom  his  acts  concern  would  be  limiting  his  goodness  and 
an  impeachment  on  his  justice."    Thus  Universalism  cor- 


NEW  TEST  OF  FAITH.  51 

rects  the  gross  errors  of  Edwardeanism  and  rectifies  the 
narrow  logic  of  the  prince  of  logicians.  American  Univer- 
salists,  the  makers  of  the  Winchester  Profession,  were  the 
first  to  organize  under  a  reconstructed  Calvinism  which 
should  be  consistent  with  reason  and  with  itself.  They 
insisted  with  passionate  urgency  that  God,  by  his  very  act 
of  a  loving  creation  of  the  human  race,  had  put  himself 
under  bonds  to  his  creatures,  his  children,  the  offspring 
of  his  Spirit.  They  insisted  that  he  could  not  be  the 
Father  of  men  without  becoming  obligated  to  men ;  that  he 
assumed  the  duties  of  a  father  when  he  called  his  children 
into  being,  and  by  his  own  free  act  gave  tacit  pledge  that 
he  would  do  all  that  love  would  dictate  for  his  sons  and 
daughters.  And  thus  they  offset  the  sovereignty  of  God 
by  the  responsibility  of  God,  his  absoluteness  by  his  love, 
and  so  took  all  the  terror  out  of  the  theology  of  Calvin 
and  of  Edwards. 

The  world  still  awaits  the  growth  of  this  great  faith 
in  a  sovereign  God,  bound  by  his  own  love  into  a  practical 
working  power  in  the  hearts  of  men.  The  church  still 
needs  to  be  brought  up  to  the  level  of  even  Edwards'  con- 
ception, that  God  is  ruler  in  his  own  universe.  Modern 
orthodoxy  is  at  this  disadvantage  over  that  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  in  that  it  is  not  sure  whether  God  is  ruler 
over  his  own  subjects.  Edwards  and  his  ilk  were  perfectly 
clear.  Their  God  ruled  like  a  demon,  but  he  ruled.  He 
did  not  let  his  universe  get  away  from  him.  He  was 
working  for  his  own  glory.  That  was  all  he  had  in  view. 
One  of  Edwards'  most  famous  works  was  called  "The  Last 
End  of  God  in  the  Creation,"  and  he  held  that  to  be  God's 
self  alone.    His  own  glory.    His  own  happiness.    And  God 


52  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

would  see  to  it  that  this  was  secured,  and  not  all  the  rebel- 
liousness of  his  subjects  could  dim  the  lustre  of  his  rule,  a 
rule  of  justice,  of  power,  and  of  glory  reflected  on  his  own 
name.  Modern  theology  holds  that  God  intends  also  the 
good  of  his  creatures.  But  he  can  not  secure  it  for  them ; 
they  will  not  let  him.  He  has  lost  control  of  this  universe. 
It  is  a  runaway  cosmos,  and  he  is  powerless  to  keep  it  to 
the  highway  of  the  destiny  he  purposed  for  it.  That  is 
the  universe  as  Lyman  Abbott  depicts  it.  The  human  will 
is  master  of  the  situation,  and  forever  thwarts  the  will 
of  God. 

It  is  the  joy  and  the  glory  of  Universalism  that  it 
holds  up  to  the  thought  of  the  world  a  God  who  does  not 
abdicate  his  power  in  favor  of  his  creature;  a  God  who 
has  so  beset  the  free  wills  of  his  children  with  influences 
and  with  persuasions  that  they  at  last  come  to  choose  their 
own  good  and  glory  in  his  service  and  love;  a  God  whose 
joy  can  only  be  fulfilled  in  the  completion  of  the  joy  of 
his  creation.  Of  such  a  masterful  God  Universalism  may 
well  say,  using  the  very  words  of  Edwards,  cleared  of  all 
the  old  terror  and  antagonism  they  carried  when  he  used 
them,  "Why  should  a  little  worm  think  of  supporting 
himself  against  an  omnipotent  adversary  ?"  In  the  thought 
of  the  absoluteness  of  such  a  sovereign  we  may  confidently 
rest  our  faith  in  man's  return  to  God  and  his  own  blessed- 
ness. 

The  generations  of  men  to  whom  theology  now  ad- 
dresses itself  are  and  always  will  be  educated  and  schooled 
to  the  scientific  ideal  of  God.  They  think  of  the  First 
Cause  as  a  constant  Cause,  upholding  all  things  by  the 
breath  of  his  spirit.    They  think  of  this  Power  as  eternal, 


NEW  TEST  OF  FAITH.  53 

incessant  and  irresistible.  They  have  come  to  think  of  the 
cosmos  as  a  system  in  which  order,  harmony  and  law  are 
universal,  a  system  moving  majestically  to  its  appointed 
end.  The  words  applied  to  Jehovah  by  James  exactly  fit 
the  conception  of  Deity  which  science  offers  to  the  modern 
mind  :  "Without  variableness  or  shadow  of  turning."  The 
words  which  Isaiah  puts  into  Jehovah's  mouth  might  well 
be  uttered  by  the  God  which  science  holds  up  to  us,  who 
might  say  of  his  decree,  "It  shall  not  return  unto  me  void, 
but  it  shall  accomplish  that  which  I  please,  and  it  shall 
prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it."  It  must  be  the 
aim  of  the  theologians  to  square  their  conception  of  God 
with  such  an  ideal  as  that.  There  can  be  but  one  purpose 
in  the  creation  and  but  one  direction  in  which  it  shall  move. 
And  men  who  have  learned  this  in  their  schools  and  in 
their  colleges  will  not  be  likely  to  accept  any  narrower  and 
less  reassuring  views  in  their  churches.  In  the  conception 
of  Fatherhood  which  is  taking  possession  of  the  Christian 
consciousness  is  to  come  the  reconciliation  of  the  contra- 
dictions of  the  human  and  the  divine  will,  the  episode  of 
evil  and  the  final  prevalence  of  good,  the  battles  of  time 
and  the  peace  of  the  eternities.  In  this  grand  ideal  the 
thought  of  sovereignty  is  fused  with  the  idea  of  love.  The 
absoluteness  of  God  is  wedded  to  the  tenderness  of  God. 
The  will  of  God  is  seen  as  the  activity  of  the  affections  of 
God,  and  moves  on  the  will  of  man  through  the  affections 
of  man.  The  divine  persuasions  are  amply  strong  to  ensure 
the  divine  success,  and  by  processes  which  do  not  infringe 
on  the  integrity  of  the  human  freedom. 

Put  such  a  faith  as  this  into  the  heart  of  mankind  and 
we  shall  see  new  interest  in  the  churches.    Put  such  a  faith 


54  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

into  the  heart  of  the  churches  and  we  shall  see  them  turn- 
ing to  the  masses  with  a  new  interest.  Orthodoxy  will  have 
to  ccme  back  to  Edwards'  conviction  of  the  sovereignty  of 
God  or  cease  to  have  any  real  hold  on  those  who  have 
learned  to  have  faith  in  the  cosmos  and  in  its  Infinite 
Euler.  Universalism  wdll  have  to  get  a  new  hold  upon  its 
own  cardinal  doctrine  or  lose  all  chance  of  leadership  in 
the  practical  mission  work  among  living,  thinking  men. 
The  age  when  the  church  shows  a  real  power  over  the  lives 
of  men  is  the  age  in  which  it  shows  the  profoundest  faith 
in  the  life  of  God  imparting  itself  to  men.  The  great 
worker  and  the  great  warrior  is  the  great  believer  in  God 
and  in  his  prevailing  might. 

It  is  a  splendid  faith  which  the  shipbuilder  shows,  who 
takes  the  trees  of  the  forest  or  the  steel  from  the  furnaces 
and  builds  them  into  a  ship  that  he  declares  will  stand  the 
pounding  of  the  waves  and  the  hurtling  of  the  tempest,  and 
will  float  and  steer  and  drive  her  way  to  port.  But  that 
is  a  finer  faith  which  moves  the  heart  of  the  navigator 
who  takes  that  ship  from  the  builder's  hand  and  trusts  his 
own  life  on  her  decks  and  his  own  treasures  in  her  hold, 
and  steers  her  fearlessly  out,  actually  to  try  conclusions 
with  the  gales,  and  find  a  way  across  the  field  of  the  sea, 
where  no  keel  leaves  a  sign  for  others  to  follow.  So  that 
is  the  most  signal  and  the  most  vital  religious  faith  which 
takes  the  creed  of  a  great  theology  and  embarks  on  it  for 
a  voyage  to  the  great  human  utilities — the  relief  of  the 
oppressed,  the  saving  of  the  lost,  the  succor  of  the  weak. 
This  dear  church  of  ours  has  to  meet  this  last  and  decisive 
test  of  religious  vitality,  courage  and  faith.  Do  we  believe 
enough  in  God  to  carry  his  message  boldly  to  his  children 


NEIV  TEST  OF  FAITH.  66 

in  the  firm  faith  that  he  will  prosper  our  work  and  ensure 
its  success  ?  We  say  we  believe  in  the  sovereignty  of  God ; 
do  wo  believe  it  enough  to  go  into  the  thick  of  any  battle 
and  risk  everything  "in  his  name"? 

But  if  one  great  test  of  our  call  to  live  is  to  be  our 
faith  in  the  absolute  God  who  is  the  absolute  Love,  another 
test,  as  severe  and  as  practical,  is  our  faith  in  the  worth  and 
the  salvability  of  human  nature.  The  doctrine  that  all 
men  are  to  enter  into  the  blessed  life  means  that  all  are 
worthy  of  that  life;  that  all  are  capable  of  it.  It  carries 
with  it  a  tremendous  faith  in  man  and  belief  in  his 
capacities.  The  most  conspicuous  and  repellant  thing  about 
the  theology  of  Edwards  was  his  utter  misconception  of 
human  nature  and  his  total  failure  to  give  it  its  proper 
valuation  in  the  scheme  of  things.  For  him  man  was  a 
creature  totally  corrupt  and  incapable  of  any  good  act. 
The  deepest  root  of  his  being  was  grafted  in  sin.  He  was 
an  enemy  to  God,  hating  God,  and  eager  to  pull  him  from 
his  throne.  He  is  a  viper,  spitting  out  venom  against  God. 
His  young,  the  little  children  in  his  homes,  were  "young 
vipers,  and  infinitely  more  hateful  than  vipers,  and  in  a 
most  miserable  condition,  as  well  as  grown  persons."  Of 
course  for  such  a  being  as  this  hell  was  plenty  good  and 
the  wrath  and  hatred  of  God  only  a  proper  attribute  of 
the  divine  mind.  But  we  have  entirely  dismissed  this 
estimate  of  man  and  give  it  no  room  in  our  thought.  It 
is  a  horrible  and  blasphemous  caricature  of  the  children 
of  the  most  high  God.  The  man  whom  Edwards  thought 
he  saw  walking  about  the  earth  as  his  neighbor,  friend,  or 
child,  never  existed  save  in  his  own  diseased  imagination. 
He  was  a  theological  fiction.    Such  a  poor  spiritual  orphan, 


56  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

such  a  starvling  of  virtue,  such  a  paragon  of  corruption 
never  dwelt  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth. 

So,  therefore,  the  most  radical  change  in  theology  in 
the  past  hundred  years — a  change  wrought  jointly  by  the 
larger  religious  view  and  the  increasing  light  of  science — 
has  been  the  change  in  our  conception  of  man.  Eeligion, 
speaking  in  the  Gospel  of  Jesus,  sanely  read  now  and  intel- 
ligently heard,  has  called  him  the  child  of  God.  When 
Jesus  put  the  universal  prayer  into  men's  lips  and  bade  us 
all  say  "Our  Father,"  he  forever  silenced  the  protest  of 
those  who  would  limit  the  paternity  of  God  to  the  few  who 
have  become  like  him  in  spirit.  Science,  speaking  from  her 
new  studies  and  brighter  light,  calls  him  the  crown  of  the 
creation.  The  sociologist  pronounces  him  an  individual  in 
an  indivisible  family,  a  developing  soul,  working  off  the 
brute  inheritance  which  holds  over  from  the  past,  a  scholar 
under  training  for  eternal  life.  This  is  the  man  that  is — 
sinful,  but  not  fatally  corrupt;  depraved,  but  capable  of 
purity  and  rectitude;  misled  and  stumbling  and  blinded, 
but  groping  after  the  light,  seeking  the  right  road,  never 
content  in  his  wanderings  from  home ;  coming  up  into  light, 
not  plunging  into  deeper  darkness ;  on  his  way  home  to  his 
Father's  house,  beginning  to  show  gleams  and  flashes  of 
angelic  light  in  his  countenance.  He  is  not  the  poor, 
crawling  worm,  the  venomous  snake,  the  incarnate  devil 
he  was  once  deemed.  The  real  man  has  been  discovered. 
He  is  a  son  of  God,  a  brother  of  Jesus  the  Christ,  an  angel 
in  the  making.  He  has  good  red  blood  in  his  veins.  It  is 
the  very  tide  God  poured  into  them  out  of  his  own  life. 
He  is  a  prince  now !  He  will  be  a  king  by  and  by !  Only 
give  his  Father  time  to  train  him  and  his  Elder  Brother 


NEIV  TEST  OF  FAITH.  .  57 

time  to  lead  him  up,  and  at  last  all  the  sons  of  the  morning 
will  hail  him  as  brother  and  peer  whom  God  has  made  a 
little  lower  than  the  angels  and  crowned  with  glory  and 
honor ! 

Now,  if  we  believe  in  such  a  human  nature  as  that — 
and  it  is  our  frequent  boast  that  we  do — we  are  in  duty 
bound  to  stand  to  our  creed;  and  the  times  are  certain  to 
give  us  the  most  severe  strain  that  such  a  faith  and  fidelity 
to  it  can  sustain.  We  shall  be  summoned  to  prove  our 
loyalty  to  our  brother  man  by  coming  to  his  rescue  when 
we  find  him  in  his  sins — by  recognizing  him  under  a  dif- 
ferent-colored skin  from  our  own;  by  acknowledging  his 
kinship  when  he  belongs  to  a  -different  race  or  nation.  It 
takes  a  strong  faith  to  stand  up  against  modern  conditions, 
the  reaction  toward  savagery  and  caste  and  the  lust  for 
rule,  and  assert  the  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  man !  All 
the  reviving  spirit  of  race  prejudice,  of  class  distinctions,  of 
international  hatreds,  is  a  challenge  to  the  Christian  doc- 
trine of  man's  kinship  under  God  and  through  God  to  all 
his  fellowmen.  The  effort  to  crowd  the  negro  into  an  estate 
of  permanent  inferiority  is  a  fiat  denial  of  the  divine  in 
the  human.  So  is  the  mad  and  brutal  treatment  of  the 
Chinaman  within  our  boundaries,  and  the  Filipino  in 
his  own  land.  The  spirit  which  scorns,  which  hates,  which 
despises  man,  is  a  spirit  of  unbelief.  It  discredits  the  doc- 
trine of  the  divine  in  man.  If  offers  insult  to  God's  life 
and  image  incarnate  in  human  form.  If  we  are  to  be  true 
to  our  own  faiths,  we  must  be  counted  invariably  upon  the 
side  of  him  whose  humanity  is  slighted,  and  by  this  slight, 
whose  divinity  is  treated  with  impiety.  God  is  going  to 
save  all  these  people  in  his  world — black,  white  and  brown ; 


58  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

laborer  and  capitalist ;  unionist  and  non-unionist ;  rich  man 
and  poor  man;  degraded  negroes  and  undeveloped  Fil- 
ipinos, and  lazy  Indians.  They  are  not  to  be  cast  out  from 
his  prosperous  creation.  There  is  no  longer,  for  us  at  least, 
any  refuse  heap  of  the  cosmos  upon  which  they  may 
cast.  There  is  not  one  of  them  that  can  be  spared  from  the 
company  of  the  redeemed  when  God  counts  his  flocks  in 
the  great  day  of  the  consummation  of  all  things.  And  so 
there  is  no  excuse  nor  pretext  for  us  to  despise  what  God 
values,  and  what  we  ourselves  profess  to  believe  will  one 
day  flower  out  into  the  bloom  of  a  purified  life.  The  Uni- 
versalism  of  the  future  will  be  counted  no  universalism  at 
all  unless  it  enter  heart  and  soul  into  the  work,  personal, 
practical,  particular,  of  rescue  and  of  redemption  for  the 
souls  and  bodies  of  the  weaker  and  the  wicked  half  of 
society.  We  need  a  deeper  faith  in  men,  a  heartier  love  of 
them  as  brother  men,  a  purer  reverence  for  them  as  God's 
men,  made  in  his  image,  and  meant  to  share  his  life.  And 
here  is  the  supreme  test  to  which  we  are  to  come  at  last. 

In  our  earliest  readings  of  American  history  I  sup- 
pose we  all  felt  that  the  greatest  peril  to  this  land  was  in 
the  days  when  the  weak  colonies  lay  open  to  the  attack  of 
savage  foes,  or  stronger  enemies  from  across  the  seas.  Later 
came  Mr.  John  Fiske  to  tell  us  that  the  "critical  period  of 
American  history"  occurred  in  the  years  in  which  they 
had  not  found  one  another,  and  discord  among  themselves 
threatened  worse  things  than  the  king's  soldiers.  We  who 
lived  through  the  Civil  War  thought  that  the  hardest 
strain.  But  we  who  have  studied  the  land  of  late  years 
must  have  felt  that  we  have  come  to  a  greater,  a  more 
vital  crisis,  in  these  doubtful  times  in  which  it  is  still 


NEJV  TEST  OF  FAITH.  59 

uncertain  whether  we  can  keep  America  American,  true  to 
the  principles  on  which  her  life  was  begun,  to  which  it  was 
rededicated  when  the  Union  was  preserved.     The  hardest 
strain  on  our  national  life  is  to  come  in  keeping  the  spirit 
of  that  life — freedom,  equality,  justice  for  all ;  the  right  to 
be  one's  self,  the  government  of  the  community  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  community,  the  supremacy  of  the  law  over  the 
mob,  the  open  door  of  opportunity  to  every  citizen  alike. 
Can  America  live  up  to  her  light?     That  is  the  crucial 
question  in  the  land  today.     It  is  the  same  question  which 
comes  to  our  dear  church.     Can  we  live  in  the  rare  and 
pure  atmosphere  of  our  own  high  faith?    Can  we  achieve 
the  trust  in  God  and  man  for  which  it  calls?     Can  we 
show  the  love  of  men,  the  care  for  their  salvation,  the 
interest  in  bringing  them  to  God  which  our  theories  about 
them  lay  upon  us  ?    If  the  nation's  flag  flies  only  as  a  sym- 
bol of  empire,  of  greed  for  rule  and  for  gain,  then  the 
decline  of  our  power  is  at  hand.     If  the  banner  of  our 
faith  symbolizes  nothing  more  than  a  theological  opinion, 
or  a  desire  for  denominational  prestige,  we  might  as  well 
haul  it  down,  for  it  is  a  signal  of  decay.     I  pray  that  it 
may  mean  more  than  this;  that  it  may  rally  us  all  for 
works  of  trust  in  God  and  trust  in  man ;  for  worship  and 
for  brotherhood;  for  the  faith  which  removes  mountains 
and  the  love  which  never  fails.    The  years  will  tell.    May 
we  win  from  them  a  verdict  of  praise.     May  we  not  be 
condemned  to  hear  the  dreadful  sentence,  "The  kingdom  of 
God  shall  be  taken  from  you  and  be  given  to  a  nation 
bringing  forth  fruits  thereof"!     But  may  our  hearts  be 
gladdened  by  that  cheering  word,  "Thou  hast  been  faithful 
over  a  few  things;  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many 
things." 


Reviewing  Ministerial  Ground/ 

s.  H.  m'collester,  d.  d. 

Within  the  radius  of  fifty  miles  from  our  present 
location,  we  think,  more  Universalist  ministers  have  been 
born  and  sent  out  into  the  world  to  proclaim  the  ultimate 
salvation  of  all  souls  than  any  other  area  of  the  same  di- 
mensions to  be  found  in  this  or  any  other  country;  and 
we  have  come  to  realize  that  a  land  is  really  valuable  just 
in  proportion  to  the  men  it  has  produced.  What  would 
Concord  be  were  it  not  for  the  blessings  pronounced  upon 
it  by  Emerson,  Alcott,  Thoreau  and  Hawthorne?  What 
would  Stratford-upon-Avon,  Melrose  on  the  Tweed,  Athens 
near  the  Pireus,  or  Bethlehem  of  Judea  be  without  the 
notables  that  they  have  given  to  the  world?  This  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  mind  is  more  than  matter;  that  the  spir- 
itual is  superior  to  the  physical. 

About  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  men  began  to 
think  and  act  whose  hearts  w^re  intuitive  of  the  love  of  an 
All-Father,  and  as  they  advanced  in  thought  and  fervor 
of  soul  they  could  not  but  proclaim  a  gospel  of  gladdest 
news.  The  world  had  been  long  waiting  for  these  tidings. 
This  was  particularly  true  of  Elhanan  Winchester,  Caleb 
Eich,  Adam  Streeter,  Thomas  Barnes  and  others;  and 
these  wrought  wondrously  well  within  our  prescribed  lim- 
its. One  labored  more  or  less  in  Warwick  and  Eichmond, 
another  in  Westmoreland,  and  another  in  Jeffrey.  This 
was  about  the  time  that  John  Murray  landed  upon  the 
New  Jersey  shore  and  preached  in  Potter's  church.    While 

»At  the  Winchester  Centennial  service,  Thursday  evening,  October  i. 
(60) 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  61 

these  divines  were  sowing  precious  seed  as  best  they 
could  throughout  this  region  there  were  born  within  its 
precincts  several  boys  destined  to  become  valiant  and 
famous  men,  Tliey  were  receptive  of  the  love  of  God  that 
seemed  to  be  permeating  the  very  air,  blossoming  in  the 
vales,  and  flaring  on  the  plains  and  hills.  Their  minds 
could  read  of  the  love  of  God  as  portrayed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures and  the  works  of  nature.  They  soon  came  to  feel 
that  good  is  greater  than  evil,  right  stronger  than  wrong; 
that  joy  would  supplant  sorrow,  and  that  the  kingdom  of 
God  would  ultimately  triumph  over  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world. 

Now  let  us  by  memory  and  mental  vision  call  up  these 
characters  and  hold  them  in  review,  that  we  may  see  them 
as  they  were,  and  so  be  stimulated  to  press  on  in  faith- 
fulness to  God  and  man. 

The  first  to  come  naturally  before  us  is  the  Eev. 
Hosea  Ballon,  born  1771,  whose  birthplace  is  but  a  few 
miles  eastward  from  this  place.  His  was  a  picturesque 
and  sunny  home,  smiled  upon  by  rarest  beauties  of  vale, 
hill  and  star.  He  early  fell  in  love  with  his  nativity,  as 
he  has  often  affirmed.  As  he  grew  in  body  he  waxed 
strong  and  stronger  in  mind.  He  was  fond  of  labor  and 
delighted  to  investigate.  The  Bible  was  about  the  only 
book  that  he  could  obtain  to  read,  and  this  he  kept  near 
at  hand  in  private  and  public  places.  Searching  questions 
while  a  youth  kept  arising  in  his  mind,  as  "Why  has  God 
made  me  to  desire  the  salvation  of  all  souls  ?"  "Can  elec- 
tion and  reprobation  be  true  ?"  Through  Scriptural  study, 
prayer,  reasoning  and  communing  with  nature  he  was  led 
to  believe  in  the  ultimate  salvation  of  all  souls. 


62  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

In  the  fall  of  1790  he  attended  the  New  England 
Convention  of  Universalists  at  Oxford,  Mass.  In  this 
meeting  by  entreaty  he  was  induced  to  preach.  During  the 
discourse  he  related  his  experience  as  a  Christian.  He  cap- 
tured his  hearers,  even  the  ministers  present,  so  that,  as 
Rev.  Elhanan  Winchester  was  delivering  the  last  sermon 
of  the  convention,  the  young  evangelist  being  in  the  pulpit 
with  him,  he  pressed  the  Bible,  taking  it  from  the  desk,  to 
the  young  man's  heart,  saying,  "Hold  to  this  book  as  the 
written  Jehovah."  Upon  which  Eev.  Joab  Young  quickly 
rose  and  said,  "I  charge  you,  young  brother,  'preach  the 
word.' "  Thus  Hosea  Ballon  was  consecrated  to  the  min- 
istry, unexpectedly  and  without  asking  for  it,  being  nine- 
teen years  old. 

For  some  reason  the  friends  of  Hosea  Ballon  as  he 
entered  the  ministry  were  disposed  to  look  upon  him  as 
a  young  Moses,  who  would  smite  the  red  sea  of  error  with 
the  rod  of  truth,  that  the  people  might  go  free.  They 
discovered  at  once  that  he  was  a  stockholder  in  the  bank  of 
original  thought;  that  there  was  a  close  relationship  be- 
tween his  head  and  heart;  that  the  former  thought  and 
felt,  and  the  latter  felt  and  thought.  Lamartine  has  said : 
"There  are  certain  men  that  nature  has  endowed  with  dis- 
tinct privileges.  They  do  not  aspire  but  they  mount  by 
an  irresistible  force  from  the  sole  superiority  of  specific 
ascendency."  Thus  it  was  with  Hosea  Ballon,  rising  to  pre- 
eminence in  spite  of  himself.  Star  after  star  may  dim; 
stone  after  stone  may  crumble  to  dust;  kings  and  war- 
riors may  be  forgotten ;  but  so  long  as  human  hearts  shall 
pant  for  the  love  of  God  and  pray  for  the  salvation  of 
the  human  race,  the  name  of  Hosea  Ballou  will  be  held 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  63 

in  memory's  treasury  where  moth  and  rust  do  not  cor- 
rupt, but  love  and  gratitude  brighten  through  the  ages. 

A  few  weeks  previous  to  his  departure  from  the  earth 
I  saw  him  as  he  rose  amidst  a  vast  throng  of  jubilant 
hearts  in  Boylston  Hall,  in  Boston,  to  respond  at  a- May 
festival  of  Universalists  to  the  toast,  "Our  Denominational 
Fathers."  There  he  was,  six  feet  tall,  head  crowned  with 
silver,  cheeks  flushed  with  rose-tints,  form  finely  propor- 
tioned and  erect,  his  head  well  balanced;  he  looked  as 
though  he  was  fully  ripe  to  go  hence,  being  eighty-one 
years  old.  As  he  began  to  speak  his  voice  was  clear  and 
strong,  his  gestures  graceful,  his  statements  forceful  and 
logical,  his  head  and  heart  were  united  in  the  effort.  He 
soon  repeated  the  passage,  telling  how  "a  handful  of  corn 
fell  in  the  earth  on  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  the  fruit 
thereof  shake  like  Lebanon  and  fill  the  valleys."  As  he 
finished  the  reading  his  face  shone  like  a  branch  of  stars, 
and  he  said,  "I  have  lived  to  see  this  Scripture  fulfilled. 
The  few  kernels  of  spiritual  corn  that  were  cast  into  the 
soil  of  our  Mount  Zion  took  root  and  so  grew  as  to  be 
yielding  already  sixty  and  a  hundred  fold."  In  substance 
he  continued,  "Fifty  years  ago  he  little  dreamed  that  his 
mortal  eye  would  ever  behold  what  he  sees  today  and  on 
many  other  occasions,  proving  to  him  that  millions  of 
hearts  were  embracing  and  cherishing  the  Fatherhood  of 
God,  the  Sonship  of  Christ  and  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
His  great  concern  was  that  his  brethren  should  live  their 
blessed  faith,  and  then  they  would  speedily  convert  the 
world  to  its  acceptance."  For  twenty  minutes  this  venerable 
divine  spoke  with  the  tongue  of  a  Cicero  and  the  logic  of 
Paul,  causing  all  hearts  to  burn  with  gratitude  and  respond 


64  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

with  a  loud  "Amen"  as  he  sat  down.  The  following  month, 
while  he  was  preparing  to  attend  a  Universalist  state  con- 
vention, he  was  suddenly  and  happily  translated,  having 
finished  his  course  and  gained  the  victory. 

His  life  will  bear  scrutinizing,  for  he  lived  the  doctrine 
he  taught.  It  required  a  great  man  to  invent  and  pro- 
mulgate successfully  Calvinism,  and  it  demanded  a  great 
man  to  prove  its  falsity  by  the  Scriptures,  reason  and 
nature.  Hosea  Ballou  did  do  this  and  did  pave  the  way 
for  the  overthrow  of  the  doctrine  of  endless  woe  and  prove 
the  positiveness  of  full  punishment  of  every  sin  com- 
mitted. 

It  is  a  great  privilege  to  visit  the  birthplace  of  Martin 
Luther  at  Eisleben,  who  was  brave  enough  to  tear  off  the 
monkish  cowl,  go  to  the  diet  of  Worms,  teach  justification 
by  faith  and  works,  and  plead  for  freedom  of  conscience. 
True  men  esteem  it  a  great  blessing  to  visit  the  little 
church  of  Frederic  W.  Eobertson  at  Brighton,  England,  in 
which  he  preached  so  many  masterly  sermons,  and  stand 
by  his  grave,  on  whose  tablet  his  many  friends  have  placed, 
"We  have  lost  him  as  a  man,  but  gained  him  as  a  spirit." 
So  it  must  be  our  joy  to  visit  the  birthplace  of  Hosea 
Ballou,  and  his  grave  in  Mount  Auburn,  for  the  life  he 
lived,  the  doctrine  he  taught  and  the  riches  he  has  be- 
queathed to  the  world. 

In  1782  Sebastian  Streeter  came  into  this  world  at 
Monroe,  Mass.,  and  not  long  after  this,  his  father  moved 
his  family  to  Chesterfield,  N.  H.  Here,  in  1791,  Eussell 
Streeter  was  born.  Subsequently  the  family  moved  to 
Swanzey,  where  the  boys  mentioned  were  brought  up  on 
a  farm,  learning  to  know  what  hard  work  meant.     They 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  65 

were  bright  youths  and  eager  to  learn.  They  made  the 
most  possible  out  of  the  public  school  in  their  district,  and 
became  readers  of  about  all  the  books  they  could  obtain. 
Sebastian  was  straight  and  tall,  temperament  active,  eye 
sharp  and  dark.  The  neighbors  were  wont  to  say  of  him, 
"a  handsome  youth."  Eussell  was  more  stocky,  of  sandy 
complexion,  having  a  blue  eye,  and  full  of  vim.  The 
leisure  hours  of  these  boys  were  devoted  to  study  and  read- 
ing, so  as  they  increased  in  years  they  were  enlarged  in 
knowledge.  In  the  last  part  of  their  teens  they  took  up 
teaching  and  made  it  a  success.  At  his  majority  Sebastian 
decided  upon  studying  law.  At  this  period  Universalism 
seemed  to  be  in  the  very  air  of  this  region.  The  father  of 
these  sons  became  imbued  with  it  and  so  did  the  boys.  Se- 
bastian was  induced  to  talk  upon  it  on  a  Sunday  in  the 
schoolhouse  in  what  is  now  East  Swanzey.  It  was  crowded 
full  of  curious  listeners.  He  had  so  prepared  himself  as 
to  surprise  the  people  with  his  knowledge  of  the  new  faith, 
and  his  eloquence  so  captured  them  that  he  was  urged  by 
his  father  and  others  to  leave  the  law  and  devote  himself 
to  preaching  the  Gospel,  which  he  soon  decided  to  do. 
While  preparing  he  felt  forced  to  preach  enough  to  pay 
his  own  way.  This  he  did  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  his 
friends  and  the  people  to  whom  he  ministered.  He  soon 
had  calls  to  preach  in  Vermont,  Maine  and  Massachusetts, 
and  after  several  settlements  he  was  settled  in  Boston, 
where  he  remained  as  preacher  and  pastor  for  thirty-four 
years,  and  died  there  at  eighty-four  years  of  age,  having 
lived  and  proved  himself  a  worthy  disciple  of  the  Master. 
As  I  was  wont  to  see  him  in  his  last  years  upon  earth,  I 
could  but  admire  the  form,  the  fatvi  and  the  man,  and 


66  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

could  readily  understand  why  he  had  been  a  favorite 
preacher  at  conventions  and  public  meetings,  and  why  he 
should  have  been  called  upon  to  marry  more  couples  and 
attend  more  funerals  than  any  other  preacher  of  Boston 
before  or  since  his  time.  He  had  the  power  of  making 
others  feel  easy  in  his  presence,  causing  them  to  depart 
from  him  with  pleasant  memories.  He  achieved  a  great 
work  for  our  church,  and  went  to  his  rest  full  of  years, 
bearing  with  him  rich  treasures  to  be  used  in  heaven. 

Eussell  was  not  so  even  in  his  makeup  as  his  brother, 
but  in  some  respects  was  more  gifted  and  overpowering. 
He  was  apt  and  witty.  Not  unf requently  he  would  so  mix 
pathos  with  humor  that  the  hearer  would  hardly  know 
whether  to  weep  or  laugh.  One  minute  he  would  appeal 
to  heaven  in  a  manner  to  lift  his  hearers  into  the  higher  re- 
gions, and  the  next  minute,  with  compressed  lips  and  flash- 
ing eyes,  he  would  denounce  some  heresy  or  doctrine  that 
smelt  of  sulphurous  fumes,  making  you  wonder  how  any- 
body could  believe  such  nonsense.  And  then  with  sweeping 
eloquence  would  laud  faith,  hope  and  charity.  At  times 
he  preached  tremendous  sermons,  and  then  again  he  would 
fall  below  high  water  mark.  He  did  not  rise  to  heavenly 
activities  till  he  had  passed  the  line  of  four  score  years. 

Samuel  C.  Loveland  was  born  in  Gilsum  in  1787, 
somewhat  more  than  a  score  of  miles  from  Winchester. 
He  was  by  nature  serious,  persistant  and  bound  to  suc- 
ceed. He  had  an  insatiable  desire  for  knowledge.  He 
early  came  to  feel  that  man  with  the  help  of  God  must 
largely  depend  upon  himself  for  an  education.  So  he 
early  formed  the  habit  of  self-application,  making  the 
most  possible  out  of  spare  time.    It  was  not  long  before  he 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  67 

had  a  good  knowledge  of  English,  Latin,  Greek,  French, 
German  and  other  languages.  Through  his  study  of  the 
Scriptures  he  was  brought  to  believe  in  the  restitution  of 
all  men,  and  so  entered  the  ministry  to  proclaim  this  truth. 
He  was  ordained  to  his  calling  at  Westmoreland  in  1814, 
during  a  convention.  He  received  the  appellation,  out  of 
respect,  "the  walking  dictionary,"  for  he  was  accustomed 
to  walk  to  his  appointments,  were  they  not  more  than  forty 
miles  away,  and  while  he  was  doing  this  he  was  studying, 
either  preparing  his  sermon  or  translating  some  foreign 
language  into  English.  As  I  listened  to  his  preaching,  it 
was  plain,  instructive  and  stimulating.  He  might  well  be 
styled  at  his  maturity  a  man  of  universal  acquirements. 
Because  of  his  much  learning  many  young  men  desirous 
of  entering  the  ministry  studied  with  him,  and  were  led 
to  love  and  honor  him  as  a  cultured  minister  and  instructor. 
His  name  ranks  high  on  the  roll  of  the  Universalist 
Church. 

Less  than  forty  miles  from  the  center  of  our  circle, 
in  Lempster,  was  reared  another  son,  though  feeble  in  body, 
till  he  arrived  to  manhood.  He  revelled  in  the  hills,  val- 
leys, lakes  and  forests  of  his  nativity.  While  he  enjoyed 
fair  academic  training,  he  was  largely  a  self-made  man, 
becoming  so  learned  as  to  be  an  eminent  instructor  in  an 
academy  and  in  college.  This  man  was  no  other  than 
Eev.  Dr.  A.  A.  Miner,  LL.D.  What  a  bright  and  shining 
light  he  was  as  a  preacher,  pastor,  theologian,  reformer,  and 
president  of  Tufts  College!  In  his  prime  he  was  one  of 
the  deepest  and  boldest  thinkers,  bravest  and  most  eloquent 
speakers  in  America.  He  dared  to  publish  his  convictions, 
But  few  wanted  to  face  him  as  an  opponent.     With  his 


68  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

knowledge  of  men,  with  his  logic  and  theology,  he  was  all- 
overpowering  in  speech  and  argument.  He  was  tall,  slim, 
straight,  surmounted  with  a  thoughtful  face,  expressive 
eye  and  broad  and  high  forehead.  In  form,  voice,  manner 
and  speech  he  resembled  Gladstone.  He  was  a  terse,  vivid 
and  graphic  writer.  He  must  be  placed  among  the  greatest 
preachers  that  America  has  produced.  When  he  died,  all 
who  knew  him  lamented.  Miss  Frances  Willard  wrote  of 
him  upon  his  death,  "Every  phase  of  that  modem  move- 
ment which  seeks  to  enthrone  the  spirit  of  Christ  in  the 
customs  of  society  and  the  laws  of  the  land  has  suffered 
an  irreparable  loss.  His  truest  emblem  is  the  oak  which 
stretches  out  its  roots  as  the  foundation  of  a  wide  coronal 
of  leaves  and  is  at  once  the  steadiest  and  most  hospitable 
of  trees,  a  great  sheltering  nature  that  gives  repose  to  all 
that  dwells  beneath  its  peaceful  shade."  Dr.  Lorimer  said 
of  him,  "He  was  a  grand,  kingly  man  in  his  presence,  in 
his  spirit,  in  his  self-sacrifice,  in  his  work,  in  his  life  and 
in  his  death.  He  was  fearless  as  the  sun,  tender  as  the 
moon,  and  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners.  He  stood  for 
righteousness  in  the  name  of  truth  and  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

About  twenty  miles  to  the  westward,  in  Vermont,  is 
the  town  of  Guilford — hilly  and  broken  into  lowlands  and 
highlands.  It  has  been  noted  for  its  farming  interests, 
but  still  more  for  producing  good  men  and  women.  Here, 
in  1796,  originated  Eev.  Dr.  Hosea  Ballou,  2d,  born  of 
Baptist  parents,  and  early  trained  with  other  children  after 
the  strictest  manner  in  keeping  with  the  religious  views 
of  their  parents.  He  was  schooled  as  best  the  times  would 
allow.     Wlien  but  nineteen  he  was  converted  to  Univer- 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  69 

salisni,  devoting  himself  strenuously  to  the  study  of  the 
Bihle  and  all  other  books  that  would  help  him  in  seeking 
the  truth.  He  studied  Latin  and  Greek  till  he  could  read 
these  languages  readily,  and  so  be  greatly  helped  in  his 
study  of  ecclesiastical  history,  which  he  mastered  as  but 
few  have  ever  done.  In  due  time  he  was  ordained  as  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel;  held  a  settlement  in  Stafford, 
Conn.,  afterward  in  Roxbury,  and  then  in  Medford,  Mass. 
He  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  sound  and  learned  preacher, 
not  given  to  display  in  the  pulpit,  but  to  imparting  much 
knowledge  and  wisdom.  He  was  every  whit  a  thorough 
man  and  a  rare  scholar  in  certain  departments  of  learning. 
So  he  was  sought  to  edit  the  Universalist  Expositor,  and 
afterward  the  Quarterly,  which  under  his  guidance  and  pen 
came  to  be  a  periodical  of  learning  and  authority.  At 
length  he  published  a  most  valuable  work,  entitled  "History 
of  Ancient  Universalism,"  which  v/as  tlie  outcome  of  pa- 
tient research  and  erudite  scliolarship.  He  clearly  showed 
that  Universalism  is  no  new  doctrine,  but  as  old  as  Chris- 
tianity itself.  Because  of  his  scholarship  Harvard  Uni- 
versity conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divin- 
ity. As  Tufts  College  was  about  to  open,  he  was  the  man 
sought  above  all  others  as  its  first  president.  In  this  office 
he  not  only  showed  tliat  his  knowledge  was  general  but 
specific  in  many  directions.  He  was  an  honor  to  the  col- 
lege. His  mild  and  loving  spirit  and  tact  to  impart  knowl- 
edge won  for  him  the  esteem  of  the  faithful  who  came 
under  his  charge.  He  was  a  Christian  scholar  without  re- 
proach. It  may  truthfully  be  said  of  him  in  the  language 
of  the  poet : 

His  thoughts  were  as  a  pyramid  up-piled, 
On  whose  fair  top  an  angel  sat  and  smiled, 
Yet   in  his  heart  was  he  a  simple  child. 


70  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Hosea  Ballou,  3d,  had  two  brothers,  Levi  and  Williara, 
who  followed  in  his  footsteps,  becoming  able  and  successful 
preachers  of  Universalism.  They  were  scholarly  and  nat- 
urally strong  moral  and  spiritual  men.  By  their  fruits 
they  published  themselves  as  most  worthy  preachers  and 
pastors.  As  they  passed  up  higher  they  left  no  spot  or 
blemish  on  their  characters  or  ministry. 

Hosea  Faxon  Ballou,  son  of  Father  Ballou,  started  in 
this  world  at  Dana,  Mass.,  in  1799.  He  was  long  settled 
in  Wilmington,  Vt.,  where  he  made  his  name  famous  as 
a  man  and  a  preacher.  He  asserted  in  word  and  deed 
that  his  father  had  no  sympathy  whatever  in  what  was 
termed  the  "Death  and  Glory"  idea.  He  held  his  pas- 
torate to  extreme  old  age,  finally  passing  away  loved  and 
honored  by  all  who  knew  him.  Eev.  Massena  B.  Ballou, 
another  son  of  Dana,  was  born  in  1800,  and  departed  this 
life  well  known  for  his  good  works.  Eev.  David  Ballou, 
from  ten  years  of  age  was  raised  in  Eichmond  and  did 
honor  to  the  name  he  bore.  Eev.  Moses  Ballou,  D.  D.,  his 
son,  was  bom  in  Monson,  Mass.,  in  1811.  He  became  a 
distinguished  clergyman,  and  was  regarded  as  one  of  our 
most  brainy  men  and  was  settled  pastor  over  some  of  our 
largest  churches.  He  was  quick-witted  and  sharp  in  re- 
partee.   He  surely  was  about  all  Ballou. 

Amory  Dwight  Mayo  came  into  this  world  in  War- 
wick, Mass.,  in  1833.  He  has  worked  in  our  ranks  and 
in  those  of  the  Unitarians.  He  has  been  noted  as  an  elo- 
quent preacher  and  elegant  rhetorician.  He  is  still  living, 
and  devoting  himself  to  educational  work  in  the  South 
with  a  success  which  has  commanded  national  attention. 

Eev.  Asa  Wheaton,  born  in  Eichmond  in  1794,  was  a 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  71 

nephew  of  Father  Ballou.  He  is  reported  to  have  been  a 
good  preacher  and  pastor.  Rev.  Zebulon  Streeter,  who  pre- 
sided on  the  occasion  when  the  Winchester  Profession  of 
Faith  was  adopted,  may  have  belonged  to  Kichmond,  for 
before  he  entered  the  ministry,  in  1776,  he  went  from  Rich- 
mond as  a  brave  soldier  to  repel  the  British  from  Canada. 

As  we  proceed  we  find  that  I.  D.  Williamson,  D.  D., 
though  born  in  Pomfret,  Vt.,  in  1807,  entered  upon  his 
ministry  in  and  about  Alstead  in  this  state.  In  the  course 
of  events  he  became  one  of  our  greatest  preachers.  He 
was  firm  and  strong  in  build,  with  a  large  and  fine-shaped 
head  set  upon  broad  shoulders.  He  was  quick  to  see  and 
ready  to  understand.  His  rhetoric  was  clear  and  his  logic 
unyielding.  His  sermons  were  not  lengthy,  but  full  of 
meat.  He  was  a  deep  reasoner  and  of  a  philosophical 
mind.  As  a  man  I  knew  him  to  be  warm-hearted  and  full 
of  good  cheer,  even  after  his  body  had  become  weak  from 
disease.  His  faith  and  trust  in  God  as  the  Father  of  all 
souls  were  unfailing  helps  all  through  his  life,  blossoming 
out  in  fullness  as  he  passed  into  the  fadeless  light,  leaving 
a  memory  redolent  with  sweetness  and  Christian  fortitude. 
He  did  a  superb  work  for  his  church  and  humanity. 

Rev.  Dr.  Lucius  R.  Paige,  born  in  Hardwick,  Mass., 
became  our  great  biblical  scholar,  and  left  to  our  church 
a  grand  life.  His  Commentary  on  the  New  Testament 
ranks  among  the  best  and  highest  for  scholarship  and  ac- 
curacy. Thomas  Jefferson  Sawyer,  originating  at  Read- 
ing, Vt.,  in  1804,  was  a  marked  boy  and  became  a  dis- 
tinguished scholar  and  preacher.  Though  his  birthplace  is 
a  few  miles  beyond  our  range,  yet  he  comes  within  it,  as 
he  prepared  for  the  ministry  in  tliis  region.    At  length  he 


72  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

was  settled  in  New  York  City  as  an  able  and  eloquent 
preacher.  By  and  by  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  Clinton 
Liberal  Institute,  and  afterward  became  dean  of  the  theo- 
logical school  of  Tufts  College.  He  was  in  his  prime  a 
splendid  specimen  of  a  man  in  all  respects,  preserving 
himself  the  same  noble  character  till  he  was  summoned  on 
high  at  the  age  of  ninety-three  years. 

Eev.  Dolphus  Skinner,  D.  D.,  and  his  brother  Warren, 
were  sons  of  Westmoreland,  born  in  1800  and  1803.  They 
were  descendants  of  honorable  stock,  becoming  stalwart  and 
popular  preachers.  They  studied  with  Father  Loveland  in 
their  preparation  for  the  ministry.  As  I  saw  them  in  ad- 
vanced years  and  heard  them  speak  in  public  meetings,  I 
was  made  to  feel  that  they  were  noble  and  efficient  workers 
in  the  spread  of  the  truth.  They  were  heavily  laden  with 
good  works  as  they  went  up  higher.  To  Warren  while  liv- 
ing in  Westmoreland  was  given  a  gifted  son,  Eev.  C.  A. 
Skinner,  who  is  at  present  one  of  our  ablest  and  most 
gifted  Nestors  in  the  ministry,  who  long  since  made  him- 
self deserving  of  the  doctorate,  and  upon  whom  some  of 
our  colleges  should  hasten  to  bestow  the  honor  for  the 
sake  of  honor. 

Then  Otis  A.  Skinner,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  Vermont, 
but  came  forth  as  a  minister  from  Langdon,  some  thirty 
miles  from  this  center.  He  was  a  student  of  Father  Love- 
land,  and  was  christened  by  not  a  few,  "the  handsome  min- 
ister." Surely  outwardly  he  was  such,  but  could  not  have 
been  such  had  it  not  been  for  handsomeness  within.  He 
was  a  settled  preacher  in  Boston  for  many  years,  beloved 
and  highly  honored.  From  the  Warren  Street  church  he 
was  called  to  the  Orchard  Street  church.  New  York  City. 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  73 

He  was  largely  instrumental  in  raising  the  first  $100,000 
to  establish  Tufts  College,  and  afterward  became  the  pres- 
ident of  Lombard  University,  Galesburg,  111.  He  earned 
high  honors  in  his  long  and  faithful  ministry. 

If  Richmond  can  not  boast  of  being  first-class  in  grow- 
ing corn,  it  can  in  producing  ministers,  for  she  gave  to 
our  denomination,  in  1788,  David  Pickering,  who  accom- 
plished a  deal  of  good  for  our  cause  in  a  long  and  faithful 
ministry.  Though  Rev.  Caleb  Rich  was  not  born  within 
its  limits,  but  in  Sutton,  Mass.,  in  1750,  yet  he  was  settled 
for  some  time  in  Warwick,  just  on  the  border  of  Rich- 
mond, and  worked  more  or  less  within  its  precincts,  doing 
an  immense  amount  of  good  in  presenting  the  truth  so  as 
to  enlighten  the  people.  Pie  was  settled  in  Warwick  about 
the  time  that  Father  Murray  arrived  in  America. 

Returning  to  Westmoreland  we  find  that,  in  1803, 
Rev.  Josiah  Britton  had  his  birth  there,  who  became  a 
useful  and  true  expounder  of  our  faith ;  and  later  Rev. 
Jotham  Paine  and  Rev.  Lee  M'Collester,  D.  D.,  had  their 
ingress  to  this  life  in  this  goodly  town,  standing,  perhaps, 
next  to  Winchester  in  notableness  of  liberal  Christian 
work. 

Revs.  Lemuel  and  John  H.  Willis  came  in  their  early 
years  to  reside  in  Westmoreland.  Their  father  was  made 
a  convert  to  Universalism  by  Rev.  Elhanan  Winchester; 
and  the  sons  were  students  of  Rev.  S.  C.  Loveland.  Lemuel, 
I  know  from  personal  experience  always  preached  well,  and 
held  important  settlements  in  our  Zion.  John  was  usually 
very  enthusiastic  in  the  pulpit,  and  by  spells  preached  great 
sermons. 

Revs.  Joseph  and  William  N.  Barber,  if  they  were  not 


H  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

born  in  Alstead,  they  were  brought  up  there,  the  former 
opening  his  eyes  upon  the  mortal  in  1801  and  the  latter 
some  years  afterward.  Joseph  first  prepared  himself  to 
practice  medicine,  but  later  of  his  own  accord  gave  his 
attention  and  devotion  to  the  ministry.  It  was  said  of 
him  in  his  preaching  that  he  was  like  a  four-ox  team 
hitched  to  a  plow,  moving  everything  that  came  in  his  way, 
leaving  a  clean  track  behind  him.  He  was  a  grand  man 
and  an  excellent  minister.  William,  perhaps,  was  more 
pleasing  in  the  pulpit  and  graceful  in  delivery.  They  were 
both  excellent  men  and  honored  preachers. 

The  Marvins,  Eev.  Levi  C,  born  in  1808,  and  Josiah, 
in  1817,  in  Alstead,  were  of  superior  stock.  The  first,  after 
he  was  fitted  for  the  ministry,  went  West,  where  he  spent 
his  life  in  the  Master's  service,  while  Josiah  labored  in  this 
vicinity  and  in  the  West  and  in  the  East.  His  last  settle- 
ment was  in  Nashua,  N.  H. 

Another  town  within  our  range,  and  formerly  of 
Cheshire  county,  is  Lempster,  the  birthplace  of  A.  A. 
Miner,  previously  mentioned,  and  of  the  Spauldings, 
Asa  and  Willard,  S.  A.  Parker,  Carlos  Wilcox,  George 
Severence,  Hiram  Beckwith,  Tracy  Spencer,  Lucius  Spen- 
cer, making  nine  Universalist  ministers  of  rare  talent  ema- 
nating from  this  retired  town.  Asa  Spaulding  quickly  ran 
his  race,  being  called  to  higher  service,  but  he  lived  here 
long  enough  to  prove  himself  a  loyal  man  and  a  good 
preacher.  Willard  held  several  important  settlements.  He 
was  a  man  of  intensely  earnest  convictions,  yet  tender  as 
a  child.  Wlien  at  his  best  he  was  grand  indeed.  His 
oratory  was  peculiar  to  himself,  producing  at  times  a  pow- 
erful effect  upon  his  hearers.     He  was  made  a  Doctor  of 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  75 

Divinity  by  Buchtel  College  during  his  residence  in  Cin- 
cinnati, liev.  S.  A.  Parker  spent  most  of  his  useful  life 
in  Vermont,  being  popular  and  fondly  loved  by  throngs  of 
friends.  He  enriched  by  his  ministry  many  souls  on  earth, 
and  thereby  was  able  to  bear  a  rich  character  to  the  re- 
deemed on  high. 

Eev.  Judson  Fisher,  of  Walpole,  was  born  in  1824. 
He  became  a  strong  and  scholarly  preacher,  laboring  for 
many  years  in  this  vicinity.  The  others  named  were  marked 
men  in  their  way,  especially  Carlos  Wilcox  and  Lucius 
Spencer. 

Eev.  Edwin  Davis  honored  Marlboro  by  being  born  in 
it  in  1821.  He  fitted  for  the  ministry  under  William  N. 
Barber  and  Rev.  Charles  Woodhouse.  I  well  knew  him  to 
be  of  a  saintly  character,  a  good  minister,  and  one  that 
enriched  the  world  by  being  in  it.  He  had  several  settle- 
ments in  this  county,  and  afterward  preached  in  West 
Acton,  Canton  and  Rockport,  Mass.  He  was  secretary  for 
many  years  of  the  State  Convention  of  Massachusetts  and 
also  secretary  of  the  Fellowsliip  Committee  of  that  ])ody. 
While  he  never  made  any  display  in  whatever  position  he 
was  placed,  he  did  live  a  great,  good  life. 

Rev.  L.  J.  Fletcher,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  Langdon  in 
1818.  He  came  into  this  world  with  a  good  ph3'^sique  and 
a  strong  mind.  He  became  a  fine  scholar,  an  excellent 
teacher  and  a  great  preacher.  He  was  a  cogent  reasoner, 
a  ready  debater  and  an  elegant  writer.  His  ideas  at  times 
were  so  expressed  as  to  remind  us  of  pictures  painted  on 
glass,  which  are  to  bo  admired  from  both  sides.  He  had 
a  classical  face  and  forehead.  In  his  happiest  efforts  in 
the  pulpit  he  would  often  take  his  listeners  to  the  top  of 


76  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Pisgah,  whence  they  could  view  the  promised  land.  He 
was  the  author  of  several  of  our  best  Sunday  School  books. 
He  loved  children  and  understood  their  wants  and  was 
able  to  enthuse  them  with  ambition  to  become  scholars  and 
devout  Christians. 

Stoddard  in  1819  gave  our  church  a  son  by  the  name 
of  William  Wallace  Wilson,  who  became  a  worthy  preacher. 
His  ministry  was  confined  mostly  to  Massachusetts. 

Peterboro  comes  within  our  circle,  and  she  produced 
for  our  church  two  ministers,  Solomon  Laws  and  John 
Wallace.  The  first  was  born  in  1806  and  the  latter  in 
1784.  The  first  was  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College, 
ranking  well  as  a  general  scholar  and  especially  high  in 
mathematics. 

JafErey  early  produced  a  good  minister  by  the  name 
of  Thomas  Barnes,  who,  with  Adam  Streeter  and  Caleb 
Eich,  became  earnest  and  talented  preachers  even  before 
they  ever  saw  Father  Murray.  Mr.  Barnes  often  footed  it 
from  JafErey  to  Richmond  to  hear  the  Gospel  dispensed  by 
Eev.  Mr.  Eich ;  and  after  he  himself  was  consecrated  to 
the  ministry  he  preached  for  some  time  as  an  itinerant  in 
the  Bay  State,  and  at  length  went  to  Maine,  spending  the 
remainder  of  his  mortal  life  there,  and  came  to  be  widely 
known  as  Father  Barnes.  His  name  there  now  is  the 
synonym  of  the  true  Christian.  Before  he  passed  to  the 
higher  life  he  was  regarded  as  an  attractive  preacher  and 
a  devout  Christian. 

Eev.  Dr.  William  S.  Balch  hailed,  by  birth  in  1806, 
from  Andover,  Vt.,  but  used  to  preach  more  or  less  in  our 
county,  and  married  his  wife  in  AVinchester.  He  was  an 
eminent  preacher,  traveler,  lecturer,  and  book-maker.    He 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  77 

filled  most  acceptably  for  years  some  of  the  leading  pulpits 
of  the  land.  In  person  he  was  tall  and  strong;  his  coun- 
tenance was  mild,  benignant  and  thoughtful ;  he  was  wont 
to  infuse  his  soul  into  his  voice  and  gesture.  At  times  in 
his  discoursing  he  would  electrify  his  spellbound  hearers 
with  a  spontaneous  burst  of  eloquence — now  he  fills  their 
eyes  with  tears  and  of  a  sudden  makes  them  to  glisten 
with  sunshine.  He  had  no  patience  with  that  doctrine 
that  makes  Christ  pay  the  penalty  for  all  the  sins  of  a 
guilty  world.  He  declared  that  every  sinner  must  suffer 
his  just  punishment  for  every  sin  committed,  either  in 
this  world  or  the  world  to  come.  Mr.  Balch  raised  the 
funds  to  establish  the  theological  school  at  Canton,  N.  Y. 

Another  stanch  and  cultured  minister  of  our  church 
was  Giles  Bailey,  born  at  Acworth  in  1815.  He  meant 
business  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  mortal  ca- 
reer. He  quarried  deep  and  found  much  gold  and  many 
precious  stones,  which  he  presented  to  our  church.  His 
sermons  and  editorials  were  not  still-born;  they  had  open 
eyes,  wide-awake  minds  and  beating  hearts.  He  struck  long 
and  valiantly  for  the  redemption  of  man.  As  he  went  out 
of  this  world  he  left  a  trail  of  radiant  glory  behind  him. 

In  Orange,  ]\Iass.,  some  twenty  miles  to  the  south  of 
us,  Jonathan  E.  Forrester,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  1826,  and 
Sumner  Ellis,  D.  D.,  in  1828.  Both  were  my  schoolmates 
under  L.  J.  Fletcher  and  John  S.  Lee.  The  first  hurried 
into  the  ministry,  perhaps  from  the  fact  that  he  was  gifted 
in  speech.  He  held  several  important  charges  in  his  min- 
istry. He  became  an  able  speaker,  and  was  at  one  time 
much  sought  after  as  a  lyceum  lecturer.  Wliile  he  com- 
manded good  salaries,  he  never  was  disposed  to  lay  aside 


78  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

any  means  for  a  season  of  want,  so  when  his  health  failed 
he  had  naught  to  support  him;  but  as  he  was  a  high 
Mason  and  had  lectured  much  before  the  craft,  he  was 
graciously  remembered.  He  was  a  natural  orator  and  an 
imposing  man.  But  Dr.  Ellis  was  fine  in  form,  mind  and 
heart,  a  charming  soul  all  through  life.  He  was  a  many- 
sided  man;  he  was  acquainted  with  many  books,  yet  really 
read  but  few.  The  Bible  was  first  with  him.  He  found  no 
other  poet  to  surpass  David;  no  other  logician  to  excel 
Paul,  and  no  other  teacher  to  equal  Christ.  He  loved  Em- 
erson; delighted  in  Goethe,  Shakespeare,  Tennyson  and 
Whittier.  He  revelled  in  church  history  and  general  liter- 
ature. You  read  his  carefully  prepared  sermons  and  you 
find  naught  that  you  would  have  struck  out.  The  volume 
of  discourses,  "Faith  and  Eighteousness,"  published  since 
his  departure,  are  crowded  with  meat  and  spiritual  life. 
His  volume  of  essays  entitled  "At  His  Best"  is  a  classic 
long  to  live  and  be  read.  His  little  volume,  "Hints  to 
Preachers,"  contains  many  gems  from  his  own  pen,  lus- 
trous and  beautiful  and  helpful.  His  "Life  of  Dr.  Chapin" 
is  a  grand  biography  of  a  grand  man.  If  his  was  not  a 
long  life,  it  was  a  full  one.  Christian,  scholarly  and  re- 
fined. He  was  able  to  show  himself  to  advantage  among 
scholars.  While  he  was  an  evolutionist,  he  was  as  well 
a  revelationist.  He  loved  everybody  and  lived  for  all  souls, 
and  has  taken  all  in  affection  home  with  him  to  heaven, 
bidding  his  throngs  of  friends  left  behind,  "Come  up 
higher."  The  name  of  Sumner  Ellis  is  the  synonym  of 
great  goodness,  of  the  Christian  scholar  and  of  a  successful 
believer  and  worker  in  the  Universalist  Church. 

To  the  southwest  across  the  Connecticut  river  in  the 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  79 

town  of  Vernon,  Vt.,  was  born  in  1830,  John  S.  Lee,  D.  D., 
LL.  D.  He  had  an  insatiable  desire  to  obtain  a  thorough 
education.  To  this  end  he  worked  and  at  length  became 
fitted  for  Amherst  College,  graduating  from  it  in  1845,  and 
soon  took  charge  of  Mount  Caesar  Seminary  as  principal, 
being  the  third  denominational  school  started  in  our 
church.  He  taught  and  preached  here  for  four  terms; 
when  not  teaching,  while  settled  in  Swanzey,  he  was  pur- 
suing a  course  of  theology  under  Dr.  Hosea  Ballon,  2d. 
In  the  fall  of  1847  he  took  charge  of  a  new  school 
in  West  Brattleboro,  which  became  Avidely  known  as  Mel- 
rose Seminary.  Here  he  had  a  large  and  popular  school. 
At  length  he  was  induced  to  go  to  Lebanon,  N.  H.,  taking 
the  principalship  of  Lebanon  Liberal  Institute.  From  this 
place  he  changed  to  South  Woodstock,  A^t.,  having  super- 
vision of  the  Green  Mountain  Liberal  Institute  for  some 
seven  years,  when  he  went  to  Canton,  N.  Y.,  to  teach  and 
fit  students  for  college,  anticipating  the  founding  of  St. 
Lawrence  University.  When  the  latter  was  established  he 
became  a  professor  in  it,  serving  for  some  years  as  presi- 
dent, holding  his  professorship  for  thirty-four  years,  or  so 
long  as  he  lived.  During  this  period  he  made  a  tour 
abroad,  going  as  far  as  through  the  Holy  Land.  On 
his  return  he  wrote  and  published  two  volumes,  entitled 
"Nature  and  Art  in  the  Old  World,"  and  "Sacred  Cities." 
He  married  a  gifted  and  superior  woman  and  they  became 
the  parents  of  two  daughters  and  three  sons,  all  grad- 
uating from  college.  One  son  is  professor  in  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege ;  another,  John  Clarence,  D.  D.,  is  pastor  of  the 
Church  of  the  Eestoration  in  Philadelphia,  and  another 
professor  in  Johns  Hopkins  University.    One  of  the  daugh- 


80  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

ters  has  become  very  proficient  in  music  and  the  other  as 
an  artist. 

Dr.  Lee  was  a  persistent  worker  and  bound  to  make 
his  a  useful  life.  In  this  he  was  eminently  successful. 
Probably  he  has  had  as  much,  if  not  more,  to  do  in  pre- 
paring young  men  for  the  ministry  of  our  church  as  any 
other  one  man.  He  has  been  a  devoted  and  Christian  scholar 
in  our  denominational  ranks.  His  character  has  been 
spotless  and  his  life  such  as  to  be  worthy  of  imitation. 
At  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-two,  he  was  translated  with 
great  mental  and  moral  riches  to  heaven,  bequeathing  to 
our  church  and  the  world  a  good  name. 

Russell  A.  Ballou,  a  native  of  Monroe,  Mass.,  was 
one  of  the  students  under  Dr.  Lee  at  Brattleboro,  clear- 
minded,  long-sighted,  with  many  talents,  fitting  him  to 
become  successful  in  almost  any  calling  he  might  accept. 
After  his  academic  studies  were  finished  he  pursued  a 
theological  course  with  Hosea  Ballou,  2d,  and  entered  the 
ministry,  settling  in  Bridgewater,  Mass.,  where  he  achieved 
an  excellent  name.  In  the  course  of  some  years  he  pur- 
chased the  Gospel  Banner,  becoming  editor  and  publisher 
of  that  paper,  keeping  it  a  denominational  weekly  of  a  high 
order,  having  a  wide  circulation.  Here  he  labored  for 
many  years,  achieving  for  church  and  state  grand  results. 
He  loved  our  cause  and  did  what  he  could  for  its  welfare. 

William  W.  Hayward  was  born  in  Hancock  within  our 
realm  and  wrought  for  some  time  in  Keene,  having  settle- 
ments in  Vermont,  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts. 
He  was  a  man  of  quick  sympathies,  an  earnest  temperance 
worker  and  an  attractive  speaker.  He  wrote  a  history  of 
his  native  town.     Eri   Garfield  was   a  son  of  Langdon 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  81 

county,  starting  on  his  mortal  career  in  1805.  Preparing 
for  our  ministry  he  was  first  settled  in  Bethel,  Vt.,  and  at 
length  went  West,  where  he  preached  and  labored  as  a 
faithful  follower  of  the  divine  Master  and  went  to  his 
rest  in  advanced  years  at  Jefferson,  Wis.,  full  of  hope 
and  satisfying  trust. 

There  may  possibly  be  others  of  the  translated,  whom 
we  have  not  mentioned.  But  it  has  been  our  aim  to  recall 
and  recount  all  the  sainted  ministers  of  our  faith,  who 
originated  within  the  area  examined. 

We  have  a  coterie  of  old  and  young  ministers  still 
active  in  the  Master's  vineyard,  doing  grand  ser\dce  in  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel,  who  had  their  origin  within  the 
prescribed  limits.  Eev.  Dr.  James  Shrigley,  having  al- 
ready experienced  ninet3^-one  summers,  and  yet  is  enjoying 
very  good  health  and  preaching  in  word  and  deed  every 
day  of  his  life.  He  is  the  oldest  Universalist  minister 
now  remaining  on  earth.  Verily,  he  is  the  Nestor  of  our 
church  today.  He  has  always  been  known  as  a  Christian 
gentleman.  He  has  had  settlements  in  Baltimore,  Eead- 
ing,  Pa.,  Eichmond,  Va.,  and  Philadelphia,  where  he  still 
resides.  He  was  born  in  England  and  moved  to  Putney, 
Vt.,  when  quite  young.  There  he  was  converted  to  Uni- 
versalism  and  studied  for  the  ministry  in  Brattleboro,  close 
by  his  home.  He  preached  in  this  vicinity  for  some  years 
with  popular  acceptance  until  he  was  called  to  Baltimore 
to  take  charge  of  one  of  our  largest  churches.  With  great 
pleasure  we  can  rightfully  claim  him  as  one  of  the  gifted 
ones  of  the  region  that  has  been  so  prolific  in  producing 
builders  in  our  church.  Then  we  have  Lee  S.  McCollester, 
of  Detroit,  where  he  has  been  settled  for  fourteen  years 


82  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

and  lifted  a  debt  of  some  $30,000,  and  made  our  church 
there  one  of  the  most  influential  in  the  city.  Frederic  Clar- 
ence Priest,  now  settled  in  Chicago,  doing  an  excellent 
work,  originated  in  Winchester.  Rev.  Emma  Bailey,  who 
has  been  one  of  our  most  successful  women  preachers,  came 
into  this  world  in  Wilmington,  Vt.  She  has  had  several 
truly  successful  settlements.  Harry  Enos  Eouiliard  and 
B.  D.  Bowen  were  born  in  Hinsdale  and  are  proving  them- 
selves faithful  ministers  in  the  Master's  service.  Rev. 
Myron  Lewis  Cutler  originated  in  Springfield,  Vt.,  and 
has  been  settled  in  East  Jaffrey  for  sixteen  years,  doing 
an  excellent  service  for  God  and  man.  Claremont  comes 
witliin  our  prescribed  limits,  which  has  furnished  our 
church  with  Rev.  Isabella  S.  Macduff,  who  has  achieved, 
and  is  accomplishing  a  noble  work  in  Berlin,  N.  H.,  in  re- 
viving our  church  there,  and  in  being  instrumental  in  con- 
verting a  dilapidated  place  of  worship  into  a  convenient 
and  attractive  church  edifice.  While  she  was  missionary 
in  this  state  she  won  laurels  for  her  ability,  tact  and 
strenuous  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  young  in  our  church. 
Rev.  H.  A.  Philbrook  also  hailed  from  this  town,  and  has 
made  himself  known  throughout  New  England  as  a  genial 
man  and  an  able  preacher.  Rev.  Simon  Goodenough,  now 
doing  loyal  service  in  California,  is  a  worthy  minister 
of  the  Gospel.  He  originated  in  Brattleboro,  Yt.  Rev. 
Merrill  C.  Ward,  now  pastor  at  Ashmount,  Mass.,  was  born 
in  Guilford,  Vt.  Rev.  Dwight  A.  Ball,  a  native  of  Athens, 
Vt.,  is  proving  himself  a  worthy  and  successful  preacher. 
His  heart  is  in  the  right  place  and  his  head  is  bound 
to  seek  and  know  the  truth. 

After  this  survey,  and  recalling  the  ministers   pro- 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  83 

duced  in  this  region,  can  wo  well  refrain  from  feeling 
that  it  is  deserving  to  be  honored  as  the  Palestine  of  our 
church;  the  Ashuelot  river  as  our  Jordan  and  Winchester 
as  our  New  Jerusalem,  overtopped  with  Olivet,  Tabor  and 
Pisgah?  As  we  see  these  characters  and  realize  somewhat 
the  work  that  they  have  done  in  helping  to  establish  the 
Father's  kingdom  on  earth,  however,  much  we  may  ad- 
mire these  vales,  plains,  hills,  rivers,  forests,  birds  and 
stars,  do  they  not  pale  into  dimness  when  contrasted  with 
the  throngs  of  valiant  Christian  soldiers  that  opened  their 
eyes,  as  they  started  in  this  world,  upon  these  scenes  and 
then  went  forth  opening  their  own  spiritual  sight  by  the 
help  of  God  and  then  those  of  others,  to  see  the  over-soul 
of  the  Father  and  the  all-brotherhood  of  man? 

With  Hosea  Ballon  as  the  pioneer  and  captain,  can 
we  help  believing  that  the  circuit  examined  has  sent  forth 
more  ministers  of  the  liberal  faith  than  any  other  section 
of  the  same  area  of  our  whole  country,  or  even  of  the 
whole  world?  Take  the  Ballous,  the  Streeters,  Skinners, 
Loveland,  Williamson,  Miner  and  others  and  where  are 
their  equals  to  be  found,  in  interpreting  the  Scriptures, 
the  works  of  nature  and  the  powers  of  the  human  soul? 
Have  they  not  so  thought  and  so  taught  as  to  have  effected 
a  radical  religious  change  for  the  better  throughout  Chris- 
tendom? Though  it  was  often  said  at  the  beginning  of 
their  labors  that  they  did  not  believe  in  any  hell,  and 
so  were  opening  wide  the  door  of  heaven  to  let  in  all 
the  wicked,  we  have  come  to  understand  that  their  doc- 
trine teaches  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  sinner  to  escape 
his  deserved  punishment,  or  the  righteous  man  to  fail 
of  his  just  reward ;  these  will  be  inevitably  experienced  in 


84  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

this,  or  the  world  to  come.  They  discovered  that  love 
is  the  all-embracing  attribute  of  God  and  the  universal 
attribute  of  humanity.  This  is  really  what  rules  in  earth 
and  heaven.  They  discovered  this  to  be  the  peculiarity  of 
Christianity.  Love  then  being  the  central  governing  prin- 
ciple in  the  natural  and  spiritual  realms,  its  final  achieve- 
ment must  be  somewhere  and  some  time  the  rescue  of  all 
souls.  They  felt  that  just  this  is  what  Christianity,  and  no 
other  religion  does,  and,  therefore  deserves  to  be  promul- 
gated throughout  the  world.  They  looked  to  Christ  as 
their  leader  and  the  model  by  which  to  measure  their  soul- 
endeavors.  As  the  sculptor  works  with  mallet  and  chisel 
in  hand,  turning  every  now  and  then  to  the  pattern  to 
correct  his  thought  and  guide  his  efforts,  so  did  they  turn 
to  Christ  as  more  than  man,  yet  less  than  God,  to  help 
draw  souls  to  the  Father.  He  was  in  their  mind  and  heart 
an  evergrowing  ideal  of  moral  beauty.  As  the  painter's 
ideal  always  advances  with  his  mental  attainment  and  is 
certain  to  keep  ahead  of  him,  so  this  central  figure  of 
Christianity  was  ever  leading  them  forward.  As  one 
height  was  gained  another  was  brought  to  view,  becoming 
more  and  more  fascinating,  because  of  the  newness  and 
mystery  connected  with  it.  So  this  inexplicable  marvel 
of  Christ,  this  advanced  and  evergroMdng  one,  became  the 
Saviour  of  men  on  earth,  and  is  to  reign  in  heaven  till 
every  knee  shall  bow  and  every  tongue  confess  Christ  to  be 
the  Saviour  of  the  world.  This  view  makes  life  progressive 
and  immortality  a  fact,  because  there  will  be  something 
new  to  learn  forever  and  ever;  Christ  all  the  while  being 
the  unattainable  leader,  yet  the  nearest  and  dearest  friend 
of  man. 


REVIEWING  MINISTERIAL  GROUND.  85 

The  noble  characters  to  whom  we  have  referred,  and 
multitudes  of  others  of  our  Zion,  have  so  interpreted  the 
atonement  of  Christ  as  to  render  him  through  his  suffer- 
ing and   death,   because  these   were   greater,   more   than 
martyr,  or  tenderest  parent  in  saving  the  lost.     No  other 
has  been  so  great  a  leader  by  his  power  of  personal  love 
in  drawing  souls  away  from  the  most  fascinating  passions 
and  enticing  sins.    Christ  has  opened  up  the  secret  of  the 
human  heart  and  exhibited  it  as  no  other  great  religious 
teacher  has  ever  done.     Confucius,  with  his  conspicuous 
morality  and  clinging  to  the  good;  Brahma,  in  his  tena- 
cious grasp   of   the  spiritual;   Buddha,   in  his  unflinch- 
ing search  for  virtue;  Pantheism,  with  its  recognition  of 
deity  in  everything ;  these  all  have  fallen  infinitely  short  of 
reaching  the  Christ-heights.     None  of  these  have  struck 
the  key-note  of  humanity.     Science  asserts  that  every  ma- 
terial thing  is  pitched  to  some  musical  key,  so  that  he  who 
can  detect  it,  may  sound  its  chord  and  control  it.     Our 
sainted  ministers  whom  we  knew  while  on  earth  believed 
that  Christ  had  struck  the  key-note  to  humanity  and  by 
his  touch  and  sweet  strains  countless  numbers  are  march- 
ing to  his  divine  music  and  are  to  keep  step  to  it,  not 
only  till  they  are  saved  from  sinning,  but  through  the 
aeons  of  eternity.    He  has  lighted  up  such  a  flame  of  love 
as  will  consume  all  self-love,  that  the  love  of  God  may 
be  all  and  in  all. 

The  lesson  of  this  review,  or  reminiscence,  is  that 
through  the  teachings  of  God,  Christ,  prophet,  apostle,  our 
translated  and  the  living,  we  may  so  love  our  faith  as  to 
live  it  and  do  our  best  to  advance  it,  and  thus  hasten 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  thereby  so  developing  souls 


86  -     CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

as  to  have  them  well  fitted  upon  leaving  the  mortal  to  enter 
upon  immortality. 


Note  by  the  Editor. — This  important  and  valuable  paper  must  not  be 
allowed  to  pass  into  history  without  a  record  of  the  distinguished  author, 
who  is  himself  one  of  the  products  of  the  famous  territory  described,  and 
one  of  our  most  able,  cultivated  and  successful  clergymen.  The  Editor  takes 
the  responsibility  of  inserting  in  this  note  an  outline  of  Dr.  McCollester's 
useful  career,  mainly  based  on  a  sketch  in  an  Encyclopedia  of  American 
Biography: 

Sullivan  Holman  McCollester,  clergyman,  educator,  author,  lecturer, 
was  born  in  Marlborough,  N.  H.,  in  1826.  He  received  a  liberal  education 
and  the  degrees  of  A.  B.  and  A.  M.  from  Norwich  University,  Vt.,  and 
D.  D.  from  St.  Lawrence  University,  Canton,  N.  Y.  He  took  a  theo- 
logical course  in  Harvard  Divinity  School  and  in  1853  he  was  ordained 
a  Universalist  minister.  About  this  time  he  entered  upon  the  educational 
work  and  was  principal  of  different  academies  in  New  Hampshire  and 
was  superintendent  of  public  schools  in  that  state  for  four  years.  After 
this  he  was  called  to  Maine  where  he  was  principal  for  nine  years  of 
Westbrook  Seminary.  He  was  also  settled  for  four  years  over  the  Uni- 
versalist church  in  Nashua,  N.  H.  After  this  charge  he  became  the  first 
President  of  Buchtel  College,  Akron,  Ohio,  where  he  remained  for  six 
years,  doing  splendid  service  in  establishing  that  institution  and  making 
it   ready   for   a  useful   future. 

Dr.  McCollester  has  visited  Europe  five  times,  and  has  traveled  ex- 
tensively in  different  parts  of  this  country,  Mexico,  the  West  Indies,  and 
South  America.  He  has  been  an  extensive  writer  in  periodicals  of  the 
church  and  in  newspapers,  and  is  the  author  of  several  interesting  vol- 
umes, "After  Thoughts  of  Foreign  Travel,"  "  'Round  the  Globe  in  Old 
and  New  Paths,"  "Babylon  and  Nineveh  through  American  Eyes,"  "Mex- 
ico,   Modern    and    Ancient,"    etc. 

He  has  been  instrumental  in  organizing  four  different  churches  and 
in  building  four  church  edifices.  In  the  Indian  summer  of  his  days  he  is 
still  active  in  preaching  and  superintending  schools  and  looking  after  his 
home,  the  beautiful  "Mapleside,"  at  Marlborough,  in  the  native  soil  of  his 
fathers. 


SPEAKERS    AT    THE    CENTENNIAL— III. 

ELMER  H.  CAPEN. — AT  WASHINGTON. 
JOHN    VANNEVEK.  HENRY    B.    METCALF.  RICHARD   EDDY, 


Universalism  in  the  Layman's  Life.' 

HON.  HOSEA  W.  PARKER. 

This  is  historic  ground  where  we  are  now  assembled. 
While  one  hundred  years  is  only  a  "speck  on  the  dial  of 
time"  when  apjjlied  to  the  history  of  a  church  or  a  re- 
ligious denomination,  it  is  a  long  period.  The  mind  nat- 
urally runs  back  over  this  period,  and  we  note  the  won- 
derful change  that  has  taken  place  in  every  department 
of  life.  It  is  true  that  the  same  hills  and  valleys  are  here 
that  met  the  eye  of  our  fathers  wlio  assembled  on  that 
memorable  occasion  when  the  Profession  of  Faith  was 
adopted  by  the  New  England  Convention  of  Universalists. 
But  the  convention  did  more  than  to  adopt  a  Profession  of 
Faith,  although  this  act  was  perhaps  the  most  important 
and  far-reaching  of  anything  that  transpired.  The  mem- 
bers of  that  Convention  met  under  circumstances  that 
required  the  greatest  wisdom,  the  greatest  forbearance, 
and  the  wisest  action.  They  and  their  brethren  had  been 
persecuted  for  opinion's  sake  throughout  Kew  England 
for  years,  and  in  no  place  more  than  in  New  Hampshire, 
but  they  not  only  had  faith,  but  they  had  courage.  That 
wonderful  address  which  that  Convention  sent  out  to  their 
brethren  in  New  Hampshire  has  rarely  been  equaled.  In 
its  force  it  reminds  one  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, and  it  has  a  good  deal  of  the  Spirit  of  1776.  The 
immediate  occasion  for  this  address  was  the  case  of  Chris- 


*  Address  at  Winchester,    Thursday,   October   i, 
(87) 


88  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

topher  Erskine,  of  Claremont.  Erskine  was  an  avowed 
Universalist,  and  in  1799  had  been  taxed  to  support  the 
Congregational  church  of  that  town.  He  declined  to  pay 
the  tax,  and  was  consequently  arrested.  The  case  was  car- 
ried from  court  to  court,  and  although  finally  defeated 
on  technical  grounds,  the  case  was  taken  up  all  over  the 
state  by  Universalists,  and  some  of  the  adjoining  states 
and  made  common  cause,  and  became  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant subjects  considered  at  the  Winchester  Convention. 
The  case  was  decided  against  Erskine  on  the  ground  that 
the  Universalists  were  not  a  distinct  religious  sect,  differ- 
ing in  their  church  government  from  the  Congregation- 
alists;  hence  they  were  liable  to  be  taxed  as  Congrega- 
tionalists.  The  question  of  religious  belief  was  not  con- 
sidered by  the  courts. 

Dr.  Eddy  tells  us  that  it  is  often  claimed  that  this 
case  of  Erskine's  was  the  moving  cause  that  brought  forth 
the  Profession  of  Faith  which  was  adopted,  but  this  he 
thinks  is  erroneous,  because  a  committee  was  appointed  at 
the  session  of  the  New  England  Convention  of  Univer- 
salists held  the  year  previous  to  the  Winchester  Conven- 
tion to  present  articles  of  belief.  Whatever  may  be  the 
fact,  it  is  true  that  there  were  delegates  present  at  this 
Convention  representing  Mr.  Erskine,  and  this  case  was 
then  fully  discussed  and  very  largely  influenced  its  action. 

This  address  was  the  moving  cause  of  the  action  of 
the  New  Hampshire  legislature,  in  the  year  1805,  when 
the  Universalists  were  recognized  as  an  independent  and 
distinct  sect  of  Christians,  and  no  longer  subject  to  be 
taxed  for  the  support  of  a  religion  which  was  not  in  har- 
mony with  their  religious  opinion. 


UNIVERSALISM   IN    THE   LAYMAN'S  LIFE.        89 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  gave  the  people 
freedom  and  independence,  and  the  action  of  the  Win- 
chester Convention  gave  religious  liberty  to  the  people 
of  our  state. 

Chief  Justice  Doe  in  later  years  in  reviewing  this 
opinion  of  the  court  in  the  Erskine  case  does  not  endorse 
that  opinion.  If  this  question  could  be  considered  to-day 
under  the  same  legal  conditions,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that 
Judge  Doe's  views  would  be  endorsed.  Erskine  was  only 
one  of  many  laymen  in  New  England  who  stood  up  in 
those  days  and  entered  their  protest  against  this  perse- 
cution and  against  the  doctrine  of  taxation  without  repre- 
sentation. 

With  the  clergy  of  that  day  there  were  a  large  number 
of  active,  influential  laymen  ready  to  make  almost  any 
sacrifice  for  the  cause  they  held  so  sacred.  Hosea  Ballou, 
Walter  Ferriss,  and  others  of  that  day  to  my  mind  were 
as  much  inspired  as  some  of  the  prophets  of  old.  Hosea 
Ballou  was  indeed  a  prophet,  not  only  this,  but  he 
was  a  philosopher.  Some  one  has  said  that  "Father 
Ballou  broke  the  backbone  of  Calvinism  in  New  En- 
gland." I  look  back  upon  those  early  days  of  our 
church,  and  to  my  mind  these  fathers  were  to  the  religious 
world  what  Washington,  Jefferson  and  Adams  were  to  the 
republic.  It  required  as  much  courage  and  faith  on  the 
part  of  the  founders  of  the  Universalist  church  as  it  did 
for  the  fathers  of  the  republic  to  take  their  stand  for 
freedom  and  independence. 

I  have  great  respect — almost  veneration — for  the  fa- 
thers and  mothers  of  our  church.  They  have  left  to  U3 
and  to  the  world  a  glorious  heritage.    While  we  all  realize 


90  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

that  great  changes  have  been  wrought  in  the  religious 
thought  of  men,  and  that  many  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
early  times  have  been  discarded,  still  these  men  laid  the 
foundation  strong  and  deep,  and  the  superstructure  justly 
commands  the  admiration  of  the  religious  world. 

Do  we  fully  appreciate  this  priceless  heritage?  Do 
we  fully  rise  to  the  granduer  of  these  blessings?  Can  we 
say  or  do  too  much  in  honor  of  the  great  work  they  so 
nobly  commenced  and  committed  to  our  care  and  keeping  ? 

It  is  said  that  the  Universalism  of  today  differs  very 
much  from  the  Universalism  of  Murray  and  Ballou,  but 
this  difference,  if  it  exists,  applies  more  fully  to  the 
practical  side  of  life  than  to  the  theological  side  of  our 
faith.  We  are  more  and  more  giving  up  theological  con- 
troversies and  dogma,  and  emphasizing  the  importance 
of  character  building.  People  today  care  very  little  as 
to  the  school  in  which  a  man  is  trained.  They  are 
more  and  more  looking  to  the  life  and  character  of  the 
individual  and  the  fruit  he  bears.  Ours  is  intensely 
a  practical  age.  Profession  counts  for  but  little  when 
a  man  is  weighed  in  the  balance. 

What,  then,  is  Universalism  as  applied  to  the  lay- 
man's life  and  to  the  business  affairs  of  life?  Is  it  not 
dealing  justly,  and  "doing  unto  others  as  you  would  that 
they  should  do  unto  you?"  Is  it  any  less  than  in  all  our 
work  to  recognize  the  brotherhood  of  the  entire  human 
family?  Can  business  be  conducted  in  any  other  way? 
Ask  any  truly  successful  business  man  and  he  will  tell 
you  that  the  key-note  to  his  success  is  faith  and  confidence 
in  his  business  associates.  The  secular  calling  of  the 
business  man  when  properly  adjusted  to  the  affairs  of 


UNIVERSALISM   IN    THE   LAYMAN'S  LIFE.        91 

life  and  to  the  highest  and  best  service  of  his  fellow  men 
is  as  much  a  sacred  calling  as  any.  The  test  is  for  what 
purpose  and  to  what  end  are  we  working?  If  an}'  man, 
minister  or  layman,  is  in  his  work  for  what  he  alone  can 
get  out  of  it,  with  no  just  idea  of  serving  his  fellow  men, 
then  both  alike  are  failures.  The  Christian  spirit  is  the 
spirit  that  serves  others,  and  it  is  just  as  sacred  in  one 
place  as  in  another. 

Here  is  where  laymen  make  a  great  mistake.  The 
prevailing  opinion  among  men  in  business  is  that  the 
store,  the  shop,  and  the  offices  are  no  places  for  the  exer- 
cise of  the  Christian  spirit;  that  the  only  place  to  find 
that  is  in  the  church.  No  class  of  men  can  have  a  monop- 
oly of  the  Christian  spirit.  The  layman  when  engaged  in 
the  secular  affairs  of  life  can  and  should  keep  this  prin- 
ciple constantly  in  mind.  Then  his  is  truly  a  divine  mis- 
sion. If  he  has  the  fundamental  principle  of  our  faith 
is  his  heart,  to-wit:  "The  fatherhood  of  God  and  the 
brotherhood  of  man,"  so  that  his  life  and  conduct  are  in 
harmony  with  this  broad  thought,  then  indeed  has  he 
reached  that  high  place  of  Christian  life  and  character 
which  was  taught  by  the  Master,  This  is  religion  in  busi- 
ness, and  it  is  the  kind  of  religion  that  must  control  the 
affairs  of  men,  of  states,  and  nations.  When  any  nation 
departs  from  this  principle,  it  is  going  in  the  wrong 
direction.  The  golden  rule  is  the  only  guide  for  na- 
tions, as  well  as  individuals.  Are  we  as  a  people  and  as  a 
nation  adhering  to  this  rule  in  all  of  our  relations  Avith 
all  foreign  powers,  and  with  the  people  in  the  distant 
islands  of  the  sea? 

Go  into  the  great  marts  of  trade,  among  the  whole- 


92  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

sale  merchants  of  Boston  and  New  York,  there  you  will 
find  this  principle  operating,  and,  to  a  greater  extent  than 
ever  before;  faith  and  confidence  in  the  honor  and  in- 
tegrity of  the  business  man.  Business  would  be  paralyzed 
in  a  day  were  any  other  principle  dominant  in  the  affairs 
of  man.  There  are  many  exceptions  to  this  rule,  but 
they  do  not  change  the  principle. 

As  we  contemplate  the  evolutionary  processes  which 
have  brought  the  physical  universe  up  to  its  present  con- 
dition, and  realize  that  these  processes  are  still  going  on, 
we  wonder  at  the  mighty  works  of  the  Infinite  Creator. 
Not  only  this,  but  when  we  behold  man,  a  child  of  God, 
starting  low  down  in  the  order  of  creation,  and  coming 
up  through  the  ages  to  a  higher  and  still  higher  plane  of 
existence,  through  this  principle  of  evolution,  and  we 
swing  the  telescope  of  our  vision  on  and  still  on  into  the 
great  future  which  lies  outstretched  before  us,  well  may 
we  exclaim  with  the  poet  that  there  is 

"One  God,  one  law,  one  element. 
And  one  far-off  divine  event, 
To  which  the  whole  creation  moves." 

This  inspiring  thought,  this  universal  thought,  moves 
us  to  grander  living  and  grander  achievement  here  on 
earth,  so  that  when  we  pass  on  to  that  "undiscovered 
country  from  whose  bourne  no  traveller  returns"  we  shall 
be  the  better  prepared  to  take  up  the  work  there  which 
the  Father  would  have  us  do. 

The  laity  of  the  TJniversalist  church  have  been  loyal 
in  the  past  and  will  be  in  the  future.  They  have  paid 
their  money  freely  to  support  the  church,  to  endow  our 
colleges,  and  to  advance  the  cause  of  truth,  and  this 
they  will  continue  to  do  in  the  future.     The  clergy  must 


UNIVERSALISM   IN    THE   LAYMAN'S  LIFE.        93 

remember  that  ours  is  a  progressive  religion,  that  the 
times  demand  the  best  culture  and  the  best  thought. 
The  Gospel  must  be  preached  in  a  manner  so  as  to  come 
home  to  the  heart.  It  must  be  preached  in  the  simplest 
way  possible,  stripped  of  all  ecclesiastical  forms,  and  by 
personal  appeal  interest  and  instruct  the  people.  All 
admit  the  necessity,  and  as  we  look  about  us  and  see  how 
little  interest  is  given  to  religious  instruction  and  how 
meager  are  the  results,  is  it  not  pretty  evident  that  our 
methods  are  in  some  degree  at  fault?  Must  there  not 
be  more  personal  contact  with  the  people,  more  interest 
shown  directly  in  the  welfare  of  this  class  ?  The  laity  are 
not  theologians,  but  they  recognize  the  importance  of  an 
educated  ministry.  Still,  what  they  want  is  the  spirit  of 
theology  infused  into  the  practical  affairs  of  life.  Some 
of  us  like  to  hear  the  old  doctrines  preached  in  all  their 
vigor,  but  the  masses  today  demand  something  else. 

What,  then,  is  the  demand  of  the  times  ?  We  can  see 
at  a  glance  that  the  masses  are  not  reached  in  any  direct 
way  by  the  church.  If  they  don't  go  to  the  church,  must  not 
the  church  go  to  them  ?  The  important  question  is,  how  ? 
Go  into  our  churches  and  you  find  practically  the  same 
conditions  that  have  existed  for  half  a  century.  Is  it  not 
possible  to  improve  this  condition  of  things? 

I  have  recently  seen  it  stated  that  there  are  in  the 
United  States  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  different  reli- 
gious sects.  Go  into  almost  any  of  our  smaller  towns  in 
New  England  and  you  there  find  from  two  to  six  different 
churches  or  denominations.  You  will  find,  as  a  rule,  that 
they  are  all  struggling  to  keep  themselves  alive,  and  very 
many  find  it  difficult  to  even  exist.     Their  numbers  are 


94  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

comparatively  small,  and  the  clergyman  who  ministers  to 
the  spiritual  wants  of  his  people  is  very  poorly  paid  and 
often  finds  it  difficult  to  obtain  the  necessaries  of  life. 
These  clergymen,  as  a  rule,  are  cultivated  gentlemen,  and 
are  faithful  in  their  work. 

I  can  assert  what  I  believe  to  be  strictly  true,  and  I 
am  not  a  stranger  to  these  facts :  that,  as  a  class,  there  are 
no  more  earnest,  hard-working  and  conscientious  citizens 
than  our  clergy.  You  will  also  find  in  these  communities 
that  about  one-fourth  of  the  Protestant  people  here  in  edu- 
cated New  England  attend  church. 

Now,  the  question  arises :  Is  this  state  of  things  what 
is  demanded?  Can't  the  conditions  be  improved?  We 
have  seen  this  condition  of  things  for  many  years,  and  do 
we  find  much,  if  any,  improvement?  In  all  of  these 
churches  almost  every  conceivable  device  that  a  vivid  imag- 
ination can  bring  into  use  is  resorted  to  to  replenish  the 
church  treasury  and  keep  the  church  alive. 

Occasionally  some  delinquent  clerical  brother  breaks 
away  from  the  old  fold  and  says  he  can  not  fully  subscribe 
to  all  of  the  ordinances  and  doctrines  as  taught  by  the 
fathers  of  that  church,  and,  if  he  is  of  consequence  enough, 
he  is  tried  for  heresy,  and,  if  found  guilty,  he  usually  goes 
across  the  street  or  moves  to  some  other  place  and  opens 
up  business  at  the  new  stand,  oftentimes  with  greater  suc- 
cess" than  before.  Oftentimes  if  this  kind  of  a  clergyman 
is  regarded  as  a  very  bright  star  in  the  religious  horizon, 
he  can  break  away  when  he  pleases,  and  his  church,  for 
prudential  reasons,  will  permit  him  to  preach  and  teach  as 
seemeth  to  him  good,  regardless  of  creeds  and  doctrines. 

Again,  when  we  take  a  more  comprehensive  view  of 


UNIVERSALISM   IN    THE   LAYMAN'S  LIFE.        95 

almost  all  of  our  churches  and  consider  the  toil  and  sacri- 
fice that  they  have  been  making,  and  ask  ourselves  what 
the  harvest  has  been,  and  what  it  is  to  be  in  the  future  if 
the  same  conditions  are  to  obtain  instead  of  the  rich  fruit- 
age of  a  true  Christian  life,  can  we  expect  anything  more 
than  a  barren  waste?  The  old  revival  meeting  which 
used  to  be  the  means  of  gathering  in  the  new  converts  is 
out  of  date,  and  the  reapers  from  this  source  seem  to  be  few. 
It  may  be  considered  very  presumptuous  for  a  layman  to 
undertake  the  task  of  marking  out  a  different  line  of 
action,  but  it  seems  to  me  we  need  a  religion  that  will  do 
something  for  men  and  women  here  and  now.  Such  a  re- 
ligion was  taught  by  the  Great  Teacher.  Is  there  any 
sound  reason  why  all  of  these  many  sects  should  not  co- 
operate and  take  the  necessary  steps  with  a  union  of  hearts 
to  make  men  better  and  consequently  happier? 

Whether  or  not  "the  whale  swallowed  Jonah,"  or 
"Joshua  commanded  the  sun  to  stand  still"  are  questions 
that  do  not  give  laymen  the  least  concern.  They  are 
wholly  unable  to  get  any  help  by  dwelling  upon  these  and 
kindred  topics,  and  life  is  too  short  and  too  earnest  for 
anyone  to  dwell  upon  them. 

The  old  notion  that  you  must  make  haste  to  save  your 
soul  for  the  hereafter,  and  the  supreme  selfishness  accom- 
panying this  theory,  is  fast  giving  way  to  that  other  and 
better  doctrine  of  trying  to  do  something  for  somebody 
else  here  and  now.  It  may  be  true  that  we  need  more 
revivals,  but  they  are  revivals  that  come  from  right  living, 
right  thinking  and  right  doing.  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
once  said  that  the  only  orthodoxy  that  God  cares  anything 
about  is  the  orthodoxy  that  makes  men  better.     Can't  we 


96  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

do  something  for  a  revival  that  will  breathe  into  men  the 
thought  of  doing  something  for  humanity  without  always 
thinking  of  our  church  and  ourselves?  Can  we  not  open 
up  our  churches  on  a  broader  platform  than  ever  before  so 
as  to  reach  the  masses?  The  meetings  held  on  Boston 
common  by  the  Unitarians  some  time  since  is,  in  my  judg- 
ment, a  step  in  the  right  direction.  Such  movements  ac- 
complish a  purpose  that  the  church  thus  far  has  failed  to 
accomplish. 

Yes,  keep  up  the  churches,  but  at  the  same  time  in 
some  way  bring  them  within  the  reach  and  means  of  every- 
body and  not  keep  them  for  the  select  feWj  and  that  select 
few  growing  more  and  more  select  every  year.  Is  it  not 
our  duty  in  truth  and  in  fact  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  the 
people  in  their  homes  and  in  the  shop;  not  only  this,  but 
such  a  gospel  as  will  give  them  joy  and  peace?  Open  the 
churches,  not  one  day  in  a  week,  but  every  day,  so  that 
"the  poor  and  weary  pilgrim  travelling  from  afar"  may 
for  a  few  moments  walk  in  and  offer  up  his  adorations  to 
the  true  and  living  God.  Make  our  churches  homes  where 
the  weary  may  find  rest  to  his  soul.  Let  the  liberal  Chris- 
tian take  the  initiative,  if  necessary,  in  this  work  of  Chris- 
tian love.  If  our  efforts  are  met  with  the  combined  oppo- 
sition of  other  denominations,  this  is  no  reason  why  the 
work  should  stop;  but  if  tve  press  on,  those  who  do  not 
attend  church  anywhere  will  be  attracted  to  our  standard. 
They  will  see  that  the  spirit  that  animates  us  is  the  right 
spirit;  that  true  Christian  fellowship  is  behind  the  move- 
ment, and  it  will  eventually  succeed,  as  all  great  move- 
ments succeed  when  founded  upon  truth  and  justice. 

If  the  Master  should  come  among  us  today,  do  you  think 


UNIVERSALISM   IN    THE   LAYMAN'S  LIFE.        97 

he  would  commence  his  work  by  counting  up  the  number 
of  new  converts  in  some  particular  church,  or  would  he 
countenance  the  cold,  selfish  indifference  often  seen  in  our 
churches?  Would  he  not  more  likely  say,  "Go  out  into 
the  highways  and  byways  and  relieve  the  distressed,  min- 
ister to  the  poor,  and  comfort  the  needy?"  One  thing  is 
certain,  we  are  moving  on  in  about  the  same,  line  that  our 
fathers  did,  but  do  we  not  find  more  of  selfishness,  more 
of  greed,  and  more  of  indifference?  Some  of  us  attend 
church  once  in  seven  days,  and  there  our  religious  work 
begins  and  ends,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  time  has 
come  when  all  denominations  of  religious  worshipers  must 
see  that  the  church  does  not  accomplish  its  full  mission.  It 
is  too  often  a  kind  of  clubhouse  with  a  steple  on  it  where 
our  particular  friends  or  set  meet  and  make  themselves 
comfortable.  It  is  true,  others  can  come  in  if  they  desire, 
but  do  they  meet  with  that  cordiality  and  sympathy  and 
helpfulness  which  gives  them  strength  and  induces  them 
to  come  again  ?  Do  they  find  much  to  help  them  or  to 
make  life  brighter  and  better?  They  used  to  be  told  by 
other  churches  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and  they 
fled.  Standing  here  today  and  realizing  the  fact  that  for 
two  centuries  and  more  here  in  New  England  the  church 
has  been  open,  the  clergy  have  been  earnest  and  eloquent 
in  preaching  the  gospel,  and  religious  institutions  have  been 
established  everywhere,  missionaries  of  every  name  and 
kind  have  been  doing  their  work,  and  still  the  world  goes 
rushing  on  and  a  large  majority  of  our  people  give  little 
or  no  thought  to  the  higher  and  better  things  of  life,  and 
the  question  often  comes  to  us,  how  can  we  make  religion 
an  active,  living,  working  force,  not  in  the  church,  but  in 
daily  life? 


98  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

The  people  want  the  true  bread  of  life,  and  until  they 
can  get  something  better  than  can  be  found  in  many 
churches  they  will  continue  to  be  skeptical  and  stay  away. 
There  is  already  a  widespread  skepticism  among  business 
men,  and  this  condition  has  been  intensified  by  the  selfish- 
ness and  exclusiveness  of  the  church  and  church  members. 
These  men,  as  a  rule,  are  open  to  any  and  all  influences 
that  elevate  the  race.  They  are  always  ready  to  assist  a 
brother  in  a  material  way,  and  often  come  nearer  to  the 
spirit  of  the  "golden  rule"  and  the  teachings  of  Jesus  than 
many  who  make  loud  professions  and  long  prayers.  They 
despise  cant  and  hypocrisy.  Such  men  will  not  be  trifled 
with.  They  do  not  attend  church  because  they  feel  that 
they  are  turned  away  without  being  helped. 

It  was  in  harmony  with  the  thought  I  am  trying  to 
express  that  the  great  Parliament  of  Eeligions  met  at  Chi- 
cago during  the  Columbian  Exposition.  Here,  upon  the 
same  platform,  met  every  shade  of  religious  thought,  and 
there  were  the  representatives  of  every  doctrine  on  the 
face  of  the  civilized  globe,  and  the  representatives  of  some 
sections  that  we  are  apt  to  denominate  uncivilized  were  in 
truth  nearer  the  spirit  of  true  religion  than  some  of  us 
who  think  we  are  entirely  fit  to  walk  the  golden  streets  of 
the  New  Jerusalem.  Sectarianism  found  no  place  here,  but 
religious  co-operation  was  the  watchword  and  brotherly 
love  the  spirit  of  that  great  congress. 

If  the  best  and  most  influential  representatives  of  all 
religions  could  thus  unite,  why  can  not  the  same  spirit 
manifest  itself  here  in  proud  and  cultivated  New  England  ? 
Why  not  tear  down  these  sectarian  walls  and  let  in  God's 
sunlight  so  that  religion  shall  have  a  higher  and  truer 
meaning  ? 


UNIVERSALISM   IN    THE   LAYMAN'S  LIFE.        99 

"Through  the  harsh  voices  of  our  day 
A  low,  sweet  prelude  finds  its  way; 
Through  clouds  of  doubt  and  creeds  of  fear, 
A  light  is  breaking,  calm  and  clear. 

"From  land  to  land  the  greeting  flows, 
From  eye  to  eye  the  signals  run. 
From  heart  to  heart  the  bright  hope  glows; 
The  seekers  of  the  Light  are  one. 

"One  in  the  freedom  of  the  truth. 
One  in  the  joys  of  paths  untrod, 
One  in  the  soul's  perennial  youth. 
One  in  the  larger  thought  of  God." 

I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  Christian  church  and 
what  it  should  stand  for,  but  when  church  members 
place  themselves  above  the  people  and,  in  the  spirit  of  the 
Pharisee,  draw  themselves  away  from  the  world  and  say, 
"I  am  more  holy  than  thou,"  and  any  contact  with  you 
will  soil  my  sacred  robes — then  I  can  only  say  that  the 
true  spirit  of  Christianity  is  not  there,  and  such  church 
members  need  to  be  converted  before  they  become  true  fol- 
lowers of  the  Master. 

Kant  defines  religion  to  be  "a  recognition  of  all  our 
duties  as  divine  commands."  In  other  words,  we  should 
recognize  the  existence  of  God  in  all  our  avocations  in  life. 
No  religion  is  worthy  of  the  name  that  does  not  rest  upon 
this  as  a  fundamental  truth,  but  anchored  to  this  truth  we 
can  safely  go  forth  to  meet  life's  duties  and  responsibilities. 
Doubtless  religion  in  some  form  existed  ages  before  history 
records  the  fact.  If  we  today  can  bring  ourselves  up  to  a 
realizing  sense  of  the  existence  of  an  all-wise  God  whose 
nature  is  love,  and  have  a  consciousness  of  this  truth  in 
all  of  our  relations  with  our  follow  men,  we  shall  have 
made  a  long  advance  in  carrying  religion  to  the  people  and 
into  business  life. 


100  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Are  we  fully  alive  to  this  truth  ?  Do  we  not  too  often 
falter  and  give  way  to  our  doubts  and  fears?  Is  it  not 
true  that  we  need  more  faith  in  a  few  fundamental 
truths  ? 

I  am  aware  that  we  are  often  told  that  the  mission  of 
the  liberal  churches  has  been  accomplished.  I  agree  that 
in  part  it  has  been  accomplished,  but  only  in  part.  The 
sharp  theological  controversies  of  the  past  wherein  the 
harsh  doctrines  of  the  evangelical  churches  were  contro- 
verted have  so  far  harmonized  these  conflicting  elements 
that  today  in  point  of  doctrine  in  many  instances  they  are 
all  united;  but  a  still  greater  work  is  before  us  in  bring- 
ing all  these  elements  into  some  organized  form  so  that 
all  can  work  together,  as  well  as  believe  together. 

All  of  the  best  literature  of  our  time  is  inspired  by 
this  principle.  "Who  can  read  such  a  book  as  James  Lane 
Allen's  "Eeign  of  Law"  and  not  feel  that  real  progress  is 
being  made? 

It  is  well  for  churches  and  for  individuals  to  pause 
in  the  rush  and  turmoil  of  life  and  not  only  review  the 
past,  but  look  forward  and  see  if  they  are  moving  in  the 
right  direction  and  planning  wisely  for  the  future.  There 
may  be  those  who  think  and  believe  that,  inasmuch  as  a 
great  change  has  taken  place  in  the  religious  thought  of 
our  time  there  is  no  longer  any  necessity  for  the  work  of 
the  Universalist  Church  to  continue.  Some  have  said  that 
other  churches  have  taken  up  our  banner  and  are  carr3dng 
it  forward  to  greater  triumphs  than  we  ourselves  can  hope 
to  accomplish. 

If  the  question  were  simply  one  of  religious  belief 
and  the  teaching  of  dogmatic  theology,  then  there  might 


UNIVERSALISM   IN    THE   LAYMAN'S  LIFE.       101 

be  some  force  and  reason  in  this  statement.  But  when 
we  realize  that  our  religious  system  is  much  more  than 
all  this,  and  one  to  be  carried  into  the  practical,  everyday 
affairs  of  life ;  that  it  should  enter  into  the  vital  questions 
of  state  and  nation,  and  should  permeate  the  innermost 
recesses  of  the  heart,  and  fill  the  life  of  its  possessor  with 
its  divine  influence ;  then  we  begin  to  see  that  such  a  reli- 
gious system  should  never  cease  its  operations  until  man 
is  brought  up  to  that  high  standard  of  life  and  character 
which  was  set  by  the  Maker. 

The  Universalist  Church  has  had  a  proud  history,  not 
only  as  an  organized  religious  body,  but  it  has  set  in  motion 
great  truths  that  are  destined  to  revolutionize  the  religious 
thought  of  the  world  and  elevate  and  purify  the  life  and 
character  of  mankind. 

The  Universalist  Church  has  a  right  to  claim  this  and 
kindred  doctrines  in  a  peculiar  sense  as  its  own,  and,  while 
we  hail  with  joy  the  widespread  influence  that  they  are 
exerting  in  other  churches,  we  should  in  no  sense  lower  the 
standard  of  our  order  or  permit  it  to  trail  in  the  dust. 
Our  fathers  have  left  us  too  precious  a  legacy  to  be  thrown 
away  or  entrusted  to  other  hands. 

Somebody  is  going  to  preach  and  teach  these  great 
truths  the  coming  years.  This  progressive  age  demands 
it,  and  future  generations  will  demand  it,  and  who  is  bet- 
ter qualified  to  stand  as  sentinels  on  the  outposts  than  our 
own  preachers  and  teachers;  and  what  church  is  better 
fitted  to  stand  as  the  representative  of  this  higher  and  bet- 
ter thought  than  our  own  ?  Unless  the  denominations  that 
are  now  trying  to  modify  their  creeds  make  more  progress 
than  they  have  done,  the  work  certainly  can  not  be  passed 
over  to  them. 


102  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

With  charity  toward  all  branches  of  the  Christian 
church,  we  should  not  only  maintain  our  own  organiza- 
tions, but  we  should  continue  to  proclaim  the  distinctive 
doctrines  of  the  Universalist  Church.  Our  pathway  lies 
open  to  view,  and  without  wavering,  let  us  walk  therein. 
Notwithstanding  all  I  have  said,  the  world  is  growing  bet- 
ter, and  the  time  is  at  hand  when  we  should  make  an  on- 
ward movement. 

What,  then,  is  the  "outlook"?  Never  better,  if  we 
are  true  as  a  church  to  the  great  work  committed  to  our 
care,  and  it  is  well  to  meet  again  and  renew  our  allegiance 
and  our  faith  to  a  church  whose  great  work  is  just  begun. 


i:)ECKASED  WINCHESTER  PIONEERS. 


DANIEL    T.    SARIN. 


WILLIAM    RIXFORD. 
ALVIN   W.    BALL. 


OSMER   WILLIS. 
EDWARD   ALEXANDER. 


History  of  the  Winchester  Church/ 

MISS  J.  GRACE  ALEXANDER. 

The  subject  assigned  to  me,  "The  Winchester  Church 
for  One  Hundred  Years,"  1  find  to  be  somewhat  difficult, 
as  the  ancient  records  are  very  imperfect  and  as  my  own 
memory  hardly  goes  back  a  hundred  years.  I  can  only 
refer  to  the  few  records  I  have  been  able  to  find  for  the 
truthfulness  and  accuracy  of  this  paper. 

History  says  preparatory  to  the  settlement  of  the  town 
in  1733,  one  of  the  conditions  in  the  grant  given  by  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts  was,  that  within  three 
years  after  the  confirmation  of  the  grant  the  grantees 
should  build  a  convenient  house  for  the  public  worship  of 
God  and  settle  a  learned  and  orthodox  minister.  In  1764 
Caleb  Alexander  and  John  Alexander  each  deeded  to  the 
town  certain  tracts  of  land  to  be  used  as  "commonage." 
The  provision  in  each  of  the  deeds  was  that  no  building 
of  any  description  except  a  meeting-house  should  be  built 
upon  this  land,  and  in  case  of  any  violation  of  the  terms 
of  these  deeds,  this  land  should  revert  to  the  Alexander 
heirs. 

The  house  wherein  we  now  worship  was  built  in  1794, 
and  is  the  third  building  erected  in  the  town  for  public 
worship,  and  was  known  for  many  years  as  the  "New  Town 
Meeting-House."  It  stands  upon  a  part  of  the  land  deeded 
by  said  Calel)  and  John  Alexander.  From  the  early  set- 
tlement until  the  year  1816  the  Orthodox  Congregational 

'Reprinted  from  the  Universalist  Leader,  Boston,  September  s.   1903. 
(103) 


104  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

or  "Standing  Order/"  as  it  was  sometimes  called,  was  the 
established  church.  Its  ministers  were  called  by  the  town 
and  dismissed  by  the  town  in  open  town-meeting.  The 
salary  was  paid  from  the  public  funds,  as  all  other  demands 
against  the  town  were  paid.  But  the  leaven  of  a  broader 
faith  was  working  and  a  difference  of  opinion  upon  reli- 
gious subjects  was  developed.  It  was  felt  by  many  a 
grievous  wrong  to  suffer  taxation  to  support  opinions  re- 
pugnant to  their  own,  and  in  180-i  a  protest,  signed  by  128 
voters  of  the  town,  was  spread  upon  the  records.  The 
town  conceded  the  injustice  of  the  custom,  and  in  1810  it 
was  voted  to  divide  the  use  of  the  meeting-house  accord- 
ing to  valuation,  and  give  each  denomination  represented 
its  proportion.  This  gave  the  use  of  the  building  to  the 
Universalists  one  Sunday,  in  four.  This  arrangement  con- 
tinued until  1815,  when  the  town  refused  to  settle  a  new 
pastor  and  also  voted  that  the  Congregational  Society  be 
incorporated ;  and  by  this  act  town  and  church  affairs  were 
separated. 

In  1805  the  Methodists  commenced  to  build  a  church 
for  themselves,  which  was  never  completed;  but  in  1826 
they  finished  a  building  which  was  in  use  for  sixteen  years, 
or  until  they  erected  the  church  now  in  use.  The  Congre- 
gationalists,  being  placed  in  the  same  position  in  regard  to 
the  use  of  the  "town  meeting-house"  as  the  Methodists  and 
Universalists,  vacated  the  building  and  held  meetings  in 
the  hall  of  the  schoolhouse,  near  by,  until  1834,  when  they 
built  the  church  now  occupied  by  them.  Thus,  in  the 
words  of  another,  the  Universalists  saved  the  body,  retain- 
ing the  meeting-house ;  the  Congregationalists  took  charge 
of  the  spirit,  retaining  the  church  organization  and  rec- 


HISTORY   OF    THE    WINCHESTER   CHURCH.     105 

ords,  while  the  Methodists  were  left  to  provide  both  the 
body  and  the  spirit  in  building  their  own  house  and  making 
their  own  records.  The  course  of  true  religion  did  not  run 
-  altogether  smooth  in  those  days,  for  we  read  of  one  pastor 
who  was  dismissed  for  his  Tory  principles,  and  another 
who,  having  outgrown  the  bigotry  of  the  past,  a  past  that 
had  placed  an  armed  officer  of  the  law  at  the  meeting- 
house door,  whose  duty  it  was  to  arrest  every  person  pass- 
ing, except  when  on  an  errand  of  extreme  mercy,  and  com- 
pel them  to  listen  to  the  prescribed  theology;  this  pastor, 
believing  in  a  better  way  to  reach  the  hearts  of  his  hearers, 
too,  was  dismissed,  charged,  in  the  words  of  one  of  his 
successors,  with  having  pursued  such  a  course  that  the 
spirituality  of  the  church  had  nearly  departed;  but  the 
good  pastor's  works  lived  and  his  memory  is  today  honored 
by  the  beautiful  window  in  the  rear  of  our  own  pulpit. 

That  the  Universalist  faith  was  alive  in  the  hearts  of 
our  fathers  we  can  not  question,  even  before  the  year  1803, 
when  our  General  Convention  held  its  memorable  session 
within  these  walls.  Father  Ballou  preached  occasionally 
in  this  place  in  his  early  ministry.  The  General  Conven- 
tion has  met  four  times  in  this  town:  first,  the  third 
Wednesday  in  September,  1796;  second,  September  20,  21 
and  22,  1803 ;  third,  September  14,  1813 ;  fourth,  Wednes- 
day and  Thursday,  September  16  and  17,  1829,  at  which 
session  the  late  Dr.  Thomas  J.  Saw^^er  was  ordained  on 
the  afternoon  of  Thursday,  at  the  last  service  of  the  con- 
vention. The  record  says  Father  Ballou  of  course  preached 
the  sermon.  He  always  preached  the  last  sermon  on  these 
occasions.  Eev,  Joshua  Flagg  offered  the  ordaining  prayer. 
Rev.  Russell  Streeter  delivered  the  Scriptures,  and  Dr.  Bal- 


106  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

lou  gave  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  Eev.  Timothy  Bige- 
low  resided  and  preached  here  for  four  years  from  1810. 
He  also  preached  at  Keene,  Swanzey  and  Warwick,  Mass. 
Eobert  Bartlett  preached,  about  1825,  eighteen  Sundays, 
receiving  in  those  moneyless  times  his  board  and  $13  in 
cash,  and  is  reported  to  have  said  it  was  all  the  preaching 
was  worth. 

Under  date  of  March  16,  1839,  we  find  this  entry: 
"No  record  of  any  Universalist  Society  can  be  found  till 
the  adoption  of  a  constitution  by  the  Universalists  of  Win- 
chester and  vicinity,  at  West  Winchester,  Oct.  11,  1828." 
Eev.  W.  S.  Balch  was  minister  at  the  time  of  this  organiza- 
tion. We  do  find  a  record  that  in  1831  the  First  Universal 
Eestitution  Church  of  Christ  was  organized,  with  preamble, 
confession  and  covenant,  and  numbering  twenty-three  re- 
corded members.  Its  deacons  were  Benedict  Saben  and 
Elisha  Eich.  These  records  continued  until  1833.  After- 
ward, under  Eev.  Thompson  Barron,  a  new  confession  was 
adopted  in  1843 ;  these  records  also  are  missing.  In  1839, 
dissatisfaction  having  arisen  on  the  part  of  some  members, 
the  constitution  of  1828  was  disannulled,  and  March  16, 
1839,  a  business  meeting  was  called  at  the  Inn  of  William 
Follett  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  new  society,  at  which 
time  a  committee  consisting  of  Samuel  Graves,  Abram 
Paige  and  Eobert  Turner  was  appointed  to  draft  a  new 
constitution.  The  record  of  this  meeting  is  signed  "Mar- 
shall Kingman,  secretary."  From  this  time  on  the  annual 
business  meetings  seem  to  have  been  held  regularly,  and 
for  a  number  of  years  they  were  held  at  Follett's  Inn,  and 
the  names  of  Eobert  Turner,  Luke  Bennett,  John  G.  Ca- 
pron,  William  Alexander,  Darius  Peterson,  Osmer  Willis 


HISTORY   OF    THE    WINCHESTER    CHURCH.     107 

and  Edward  Alexander,  with  others,  are  prominent ;  while 
Marshall  Kingman,  S.  P.  Fairbanks,  J,  S.  Hunt,  Abijah 
Eddy,  John  Cook,  Jr.,  and  Luther  Cheney  were  the  faithful 
clerks,  all  of  whom  have  passed  on  into  the  future  life. 

That  some  attention  was  paid  to  uprightness  and  mor- 
ality in  those  days  we  do  not  question,  as,  under  date  of 
March  23,  1839,  we  read  the  following: 

"On  motion  of  John  G.  Capron,  the  following  resolu- 
tion was  read  and  adopted:  'Whereas,  profanity  and  in- 
temperance, two  great  yet  not  uncommon  evils  in  our 
community,  being  in  direct  contravention  to  the  pure  prin- 
ciple of  Universalism,  and  detrimental  to  its  advancement 
among  men, 

"  'Eesolved,  That  we,  the  members  of  the  First  TJni- 
versalist  Society  of  Winchester,  N.  H.,  will  use  our  best 
endeavors,  by  precept  and  example,  to  persuade  all  those 
with  whom  we  associate  to  abstain  from  these  vices.'  " 

Also  that  there  was  discipline  in  the  rules,  for  under 
date  of  February  1,  1840,  we  find  an  entry,  "voted  that 
Amos  Chase  be  expelled  from  this  society."  What  grievous 
wrong  Brother  Chase  had  committed  we  know  not,  but 
have  faith  to  believe  long  ere  this  he  has  been  convinced 
of  the  folly  of  wrong-doing  and,  like  the  prodigal  of  old, 
returned  to  the  fold. 

In  1834  Rev.  Freeman  Loving  is  given  as  representing 
the  society.  In  1837  the  society  "voted  to  hire  Bro.  Still- 
man  Clark  to  preach  with  us  for  the  sum  of  $375,  and 
give  him  four  Sundays  to  himself."  In  1839  Eev.  Abram 
Paige  preached;  in  1840  "voted  to  employ  Rev.  Charles 
Woodhouse  to  supply  the  preached  gospel."  Most  of  these 
services  must  have  been  held  at  West  Winchester,  now 


108  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Ashuelot,  in  the  hall  given  by  one  Stephen  Hawkins  for 
the  use  of  the  Universalists.  Mr.  Hawkins  also  gave  a 
wood-lot  to  be  used  in  the  support  of  preaching,  and  land 
for  the  cemetery  at  Ashuelot.  It  seemed  that  preaching 
was  held  these  years  from  one-fourth  to  one-half  of  the 
time.  In  March,  1839,  a  bill  of  $3.00  was  paid  for  the 
use  of  district  No.  3  schoolhouse  hall,  showing  the  partial 
change  of  meeting  to  Winchester  Center.  In  1841-42  a 
successful  movement  was  made  to  contract  with  the  town 
for  the  finishing  of  the  upper  part  of  the  "New  Town 
Meeting  House"  for  a  place  of  worship.  It  was  finished 
and  dedicated  June  8,  1842. 

In  February,  1842,  Eev.  Thompson  Barron  was  en- 
gaged for  three  years,  and  he  was  here  ordained  in  that 
year,  closing  his  labors  in  August,  1845.  There  are  some 
still  living  who  remember  the  prosperity  enjoyed  by  the 
society  under  Mr.  Barron's  pastorate.  Eev.  J.  W.  Ford  be- 
came pastor  the  closing  month  of  1845  and  continued 
nearly  four  years,  and  it  was  said  of  him  "that  his  every- 
day walk  was  so  good  that  in  his  opponent's  judgment  he 
did  more  hurt  out  of  the  pulpit  than  in."  In  1851  Rev. 
B.  Y.  Stevenson  was  employed;  Eev.  A.  Abbott  was  se- 
cured in  1853  and  continued  two  years.  Brother  Abbott 
was  the  first  pastor  of  whom  we  have  any  personal  recol- 
lections. After  Mr.  Abbott  came  Eev.  Orren  Perkins,  from 
1856  to  1860.  Then  came  the  dark  days  of  the  society, 
for  until  1868  we  had  no  settled  pastor  and  the  church 
was  closed,  with  only  occasional  supplies.  In  1868  the  town 
raised  the  building  and  repaired  the  town  hall ;  the  cor- 
ners beside  the  tower  were  filled  out  and,  after  much  con- 
troversy and  many  meetings,  the  society  accepted  of  the 


HISTORY   OF    THE    WINCHESTER   CHURCH.     109 

repairs.  In  18G8-9  Eev.  Increase  S.  Lincoln,  Unitarian, 
was  pastor;  in  1871-3  Rev.  Tbeo.  L.  Dean;  in  1874,  Rev. 
E..  S.  Foster;  in  1877,  Revs.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  B.  Tabor. 
In  July  and  August  of  the  years  1879  and  1880  Rev. 
Willard  C.  Selleck,  then  a  student  at  Canton  Theological 
School,  supplied.  In  1881-2  Rev.  A.  A.  Rice  was  settled 
at  Hinsdale  and  Winchester,  followed  by  Rev.  E.  A.  Read 
in  1884.  In  1888  Rev.  D.  L.  Fisher  supplied  the  two 
parishes ;  after  Mr.  Fisher  Rev.  Walter  A.  Tuttle  was  with 
us  until  January,  1892 ;  then  Rev.  I.  P.  Quimby  for  a  few 
months;  after  Mr.  Quimby,  Rev.  James  H.  Little  for  five 
years.  Then  Rev.  Judson  P.  ]\Iarvin  from  November  1, 
1899,  until  April,  1903,  which  brings  us  to  our  present 
pastorate  with  Rev.  Clarence  J.  Harris,  commencing  June 
1,  1902. 

Thus  it  seems  as  a  flock  we  have  had  many  shepherds, 
but  it  must  be  remembered  the  years  have  also  been  many. 
Our  material  gain  on  the  whole  has  been  important ;  the 
improvement  in  our  house  of  worship  has  been  marked. 
We  well  remember  the  high  pulpit  with  stairs  at  eacli  side ; 
the  crimson  curtain  in  the  rear  and  the  inscription  above, 
"All  nations  whom  thou  liast  made  shall  come  and  worship 
before  thee,  0  Lord,"  (Psalms  Ixxxvi,  9),  selected  by  Mr. 
Barron,  w^hich  our  childhood  eyes  read  and  reread  so 
many  times  during  the  long  hours  of  morning  and  after- 
noon service,  when  a  minister  could  not  earn  his  wages 
unless  he  delivered  two  sermons.  The  pulpit  and  side 
scrolls  I  have  been  told  came  from  the  old  School  street 
church,  of  Boston,  having  been  in  use  there.  At  the  time 
of  Rev.  E.  S.  Foster's  ministrations  the  audience-room  was 
repaired,  the  pulpit  cut   down  and  other  improvements 


110  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

made.  Also  through  Mr.  Foster's  endeavors,  the  state  leg- 
islature passed  an  act  changing  the  name  of  the  organiza- 
tion from  the  First  Universalist  Society  to  the  First  Uni- 
versalist  Parish  of  Winchester.  During  the  pastorate  of 
Eev.  D.  L.  Fisher  extensive  repairs  were  made  at  an  ex- 
pense of  some  $3,200,  besides  the  memorial  windows,  which 
were  all  given  by  generous  friends.  These  expenses  were 
promptley  met  without  any  burden  of  debt.  The  commit- 
tee in  charge  were  C.  W.  Scott,  George  H.  Allen,  Jasper 
A.  Gale  and  Charles  St.  Clair,  and  the  work  was  well  and 
faithfully  done. 

This  was  a  vital  time  in  the  history  of  the  parish,  as 
more  or  less  difference  of  opinion  existed,  and  at  times  it 
seemed  as  if  harmony  could  never  prevail.  I  can  not  re- 
frain from  a  tribute  to  the  worth  and  memory  of  the  late 
Daniel  T.  Saben,  whose  steady  hand,  level  head  and  gen- 
erous heart  did  so  much  at  this  time  of  need.  All  was 
complete  at  last,  and  Thursday  and  Friday,  June  13  and 
14,  1889,  a  service  of  rededication  was  held. 

In  all  the  financial  problems  of  our  church  life  the 
Ladies'  Society  has  been  an  active  member.  Oh !  the  sup- 
pers that  have  been  given,  the  entertainments  planned  and 
executed,  the  fairs  that  have  been  held,  giving  hours  and 
days  of  weariness,  sleepless  nights  of  planning,  and  tired 
bodies  in  executing,  all  for  the  sake  of  keeping  the  doors 
of  our  church  open  and  our  bills  promptly  met.  All  honor 
to  the  noble  women  who  have  been  so  faithful  to  the  trust. 
All  hail  to  the  day  when  some  other,  better,  way  may  be 
devised  whereby  the  good  work  may  go  on  with  fewer  sup- 
pers to  meet  financial  obligations,  and  a  better,  quicker 
way  to  reach  the  pocketbooks  of  all  who  are  receiving  un- 


HISTORY   OF   THE    WINCHESTER   CHURCH.     Ill 

told  benefits  from  our  churches,  but  who  fail  to  acknowl- 
edge it  in  a  businesslike  way. 

Our  parish  never  received  any  bequests  until  1899, 
after  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Edward  C.  Thayer,  of  Keene, 
when  Mrs.  Thayer  and  Miss  Margaret  C.  Chapin  (now 
Mrs.  Bazley)  carried  out  an  expressed  wish  of  Mr.  Thayer 
and  gave  the  parish  $5,000  to  be  known  as  the  Julia  B. 
Thayer  fund,  the  interest  of  this  fund  to  be  used  for  cur- 
rent expenses. 

In  April,  1900,  the  young  people  of  the  parish  organ- 
ized an  aid  society  for  the  express  purpose  of  raising  funds 
to  purchase  a  pipe  organ,  to  be  given  as  a  memorial  com- 
memorating the  centennial  of  the  adoption  of  the  Profes- 
sion of  Faith,  in  our  church  at  the  General  Convention, 
September  22,  1803.  Mrs.  J.  P.  Marvin  was  the  first  pres-^ 
ident  of  this  society;  and  in  December,  1902,  the  organ 
was  purchased  of  the  Estey  Organ  Company,  of  Brattle- 
boro,  Vt.  For  many  years  in  the  early  days  of  the  parish 
a  pipe  organ,  purchased  of  the  town  and  built  in  1798  by 
Henry  Pratt,  a  native  of  Winchester,  was  in  use.  This 
organ  is  still  owned  by  the  society,  and  has  been  removed 
to  the  public  library  building  for  safe  keeping. 

January  1,  1903,  the  parish  took  a  deed  of  the  prop- 
erty on  the  hill  in  the  rear  of  the  church,  known  as  the 
John  Cook,  Jr.,  place,  for  a  parsonage,  the  Ladies'  So- 
ciety assuming  a  debt  of  $1,900  upon  the  same.  So  much 
for  the  material  progress  of  our  church  life.  Can  we 
measure  the  spiritual  in  like  ratio?  The  Young  People's 
Christian  Fnion  came  to  fill  a  great  need  in  our  church 
life  throughout  the  land.  This  church,  too,  fell  into  line, 
and  under  the  careful  guidance  of  Eev.  W,  A.  Tuttle.  our 


112  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Y.  P.  C.  U.  came  into  existence.  We  have  earnest,  devoted 
members,  true  to  the  motto  of  the  Union,  "For  Christ  and 
his  church." 

The  place  whereon  we  stand  is  sacred,  hallowed  with 
the  memories  of  our  own  kith  and  kin  who  did  all  in  their 
power  to  support  the  faith  we  represent.    It  is  also  sacred 
with  the  associations  and  memories  of  the  many  good  men 
and  true  who  have  proclaimed  the  gospel  from  this  pulpit. 
Doubtless  the  oldest  living  minister  who  ever  conducted 
religious  service  in  this  church  is  Rev.  James  Shrigley, 
D.  D.,  now  residing  in  Philadelphia,  who  still  keeps  a  live 
interest  in  our  prosperity,  and  who  held  a  service  here  in 
1836.     Under  the  care  of  most  of  our  pastors  our  church 
roll  has  increased ;  many  have  passed  on ;  some,  alas,  have 
fallen  out  by  the  way.    We  are  banded  together  as  followers 
of  the  Man  of  Kazareth,  whose  name  we  take.     May  we 
be  faithful.     We  honor  the  record  of  our  fathers,  who 
faced  the  problem  when  it  needed  genuine  courage  to  be 
called  a  Universalist.     Then  discipline  was  rigid,  and  ex- 
change of  Christian  courtesy  between  liberals  and  so-called 
evangelicals  was  unknown.    Now  better  things  prevail,  and 
Christian  fellowship  and  good  will  are  the  rule.     May  we 
do  our  part  to  continue  this.    May  we  prove  by  our  works 
and  faith  we  are  in  earnest,  and  fill  our  place  in  this  com- 
munity, of  which  there  is  great  need. 


REV.  W.  S.  UALCII, 

WINCHESTER    PASTOR,    1S2S. 


Before  and  After  Winchester.' 

REV.  J.  A.  STONER. 

The  introduction  of  Universalism  into  that  part  of 
our  land  once  knowTi  as  the  "Far  West"  was  never 
planned.  No  accredited  missionary  of  the  New  England 
Convention  accompanied  the  hardy  settlers  who  fought 
their  way  into  the  western  country  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  War.  That  our  faith  was  carried  there  no 
one  need  doubt.  Ours  has  been  a  pioneer  church  and  our 
people  have  been  pioneers  in  every  great  reform.  It  was 
but  natural,  therefore,  that  they  should  share  in  the  toil 
of  opening  up  a  new  country,  founding  new  cities  and 
establishing  new  institutions. 

The  Treaty  of  Paris  left  the  youthful,  republic  in 
possession  of  a  vast  unsettled  region  lying  between  the 
Allegheny  Mountains  and  the  Mississippi  River.  By  right 
of  charter,  granted  in  colonial  times,  several  of  the  states 
extended  their  boundaries  over  the  larger  part  of  this  ter- 
ritory. The  feeling  was  prevalent  that  these  lands  should 
be  disposed  of  for  the  common  welfare.  Virginia  set  the 
example,  and  in  1784,  ceded  to  the  United  States  all  the 
land  which  she  claimed  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River. 
Connecticut  and  New  York  soon  followed  the  lead  of  Vir- 
ginia, making  possible  that  career  of  expansion  that  prom- 
ises to  Americanize  the  world. 

As  early  as  1785  General  James  M.  Varnum  formed 
the  project  of  settling  the  Northwest,  and  proposed  the 

'Address  at  the  Rome  City  (Ind.)  Commemorative  Service  September  2, 
1903,   with  the  original  title,    "Penetrating  the  Wilderness." 

(113) 


114  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

founding  of  a  city  at  the  month  of  the  Muskingum  Eiver. 
The  following  year  eleven  men  met  at  the  "Bunch  of 
Grapes  Tavern/'  in  Boston,  and  organized  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany. General  Varnum  was  elected  President,  and  Major 
Sargent,  Secretary,  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler  was  elected 
agent,  and  instructed  to  proceed  to  New  York  and  petition 
Congress  for  the  sale  of  1,500,000  acres  of  land  to  the 
Ohio  Company,  and  the  enactment  of  such  laws  as  would 
secure  adequate  home  government  for  the  Northwest 
Territory.  Dr.  Cutler  was  entirely  successful  and  the 
result  was  the  sale  of  land  to  the  Ohio  Company,  and  the 
passage  of  the  now  famous  Ordinance  of  1787.  Of  this 
Daniel  Webster  once  said:  "I  doubt  whether  any  one 
single  law,  ancient  or  modern,  has  produced  effects  of  a 
more  marked,  and  lasting  distinct  character." 

Two  articles  of  this  ordinance  only  demand  our  at- 
tention in  this  paper.  Article  3  reads:  "Eeligion,  mor- 
ality, and  knowledge,  being  necessary  to  good  govern- 
ment and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the 
means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged."  Article 
5  forbids  human  slavery.  In  the  light  of  these  articles  is 
to  be  read  the  wonderful  history  of  the  great  Northwest. 
The  first  company  of  settlers,  numbering  forty-seven,  un- 
der the  command  of  General  Eufus  Putnam,  reached  Ohio, 
April  7th,  1788.  The  flood  of  emigration  that  almost  im- 
mediately followed  exceeded  all  expectation.  Not  less  than 
20,000  persons  sought  homes  in  the  wilderness  the  first 
year.  These  pioneers  were  subjected  to  almost  incredible 
hardships.  Eoads  were  bridle-paths  through  the  dense 
forests.  There  were  no  bridges  or  ferries,  and  because  of 
the  great  hazard  in  transportation,  the  new  settlers  could 


BEFORE  AND   AFTER   WINCHESTER.  115 

take  with  them  to  their  new  homes  only  such  articles  as 
were  absolutely  necessary  to  a  life  in  the  wilderness.  Not- 
withstanding this  limitation,  every  pack  contained,  in 
addition  to  the  customary  outfit,  a  Bible,  an  almanac  and 
a  few  volumes  most  valued  to  the  owner.  What  these 
latter  were  can  only  be  inferred  from  knowing  the  charac- 
ter and  the  religious  attitude  of  the  several  emigrants. 

General  James  Mitchell  Varnum  had  been  a  resident 
of  East  Greenwich,  Rhode  Island.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  eminent  lawyers  and  distinguished  orators  in  the 
colonies.  He  commanded  the  Rhode  Island  Brigade  dur- 
ing the  early  period  of  the  War  for  Independence.  He 
was  a  friend  of  Rev.  John  Murray,  and  doubtless  it  was 
due  to  his  influence  that  jMurray  received  the  appoint- 
ment of  chaplain  in  the  Revolutionary  Army.  General 
Varnum  was  by  appointment  one  of  the  judges  of  the  new 
territory,  but  was  able  to  serve  but  a  short  time  when  he 
was  taken  sick  and  was  advised  to  seek  a  warmer  climate. 
On  his  way  down  the  Ohio  he  grew  rapidly  worse  and  died 
at  the  Falls.  A  letter  written  to  his  wife  a  short  time 
before  his  departure  is  filled  with  tender  affection,  and 
breathes  a  most  devout  Christian  spirit. 

Capt.  Winthrop  Sargent,  the  efficient  and  energetic 
Secretary  of  the  Ohio  Company  and  the  Adjutant  to  the 
first  Governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  General  St. 
Clair,  was  a  native  of  Gloucester,  Mass.,  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  that  numerous  Sargent  family,  "almost  all  of 
whom,"  Mrs.  Murray  informs  us,  'Tiad  embraced  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus;  and  their  attachment  to  John  ]\Iurray 
was  proportioned  to  their  zeal."  Winthrop  Sargent  was 
a  prominent  factor  in  the  government  of  the  Northwest 


116  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Territory.  He  took  part  in  the  unfortunate  campaign  of 
1791,  and  was  wounded  in  St,  Clair's  defeat.  He  served 
also  as  Adjutant  to  General  Wayne  in  1794.  Sargent 
was  delegated  to  establish  a  civil  government  at  Vincennes 
in  1790.  In  this  delicate  task  he  acquitted  himself  to  the 
entire  satisfaction  of  the  people,  and  received  a  testi- 
monial drawn  up  by  a  committee  of  officers.  In  1788  he 
removed  to  Natchez,  having  been  appointed  Governor  of 
the  Mississippi  Territory.  Other  early  settlers  at  Marietta, 
known  to  be  of  the  Universalist  faith,  were  Col.  Joseph 
Barker,  father  of  Frances  Dana  Barker,  famous  in  her  day 
as  an  active  worker  in  the  temperance,  anti-slavery  and 
woman's  rights  movements;  and  Aaron  Waldo  Putman, 
ancestor  of  the  Universalist  families  of  that  name  now 
residents  in  Washington  County,  Ohio.  There  were 
doubtless  other  Universalists  among  the  members  of  the 
Ohio  Company  than  those  whose  names  we  have  given. 
That  such  men  could  entertain  so  precious  a  faith  as 
Universalism  and  not  make  it  known  is  inconceiveable. 
We  may  rightfully  infer  that  they  were  evangelical  Uni- 
versalists, and  that  in  their  slender  stock  of  books  were  to 
be  found  a  few  advocating  the  great  doctrine  of  the  world's 
salvation ;  and  that  these  were  loaned  and  re-loaned  until 
worn  to  shreds. 

The  settlement  of  the  lands  between  the  Miami  rivers 
began  in  1788.  Among  the  pioneers  of  this  region  were 
many  men  whose  descendants  have  been  prominent  in 
later  times  in  the  affairs  of  the  Universalist  Church. 
Among  the  number  we  may  note  the  names  of  Ludlow, 
Armstrong,  Perin,  Durham,  Buckingham,  Snider,  Bald- 
win, Cary  and  Laboyteau. 


BEFORE   AND   AFTER    WINCHESTER.  117 

The  pioneers  of  every  age  are  men  of  marked  inde- 
pendence of  character  and  are  seldom  slaves  to  either  old 
customs  or  old  opinions.  Books,  therefore,  became  our 
early  missionaries  to  the  Northwest.  What  were  they? 
Let  us  look  into  their  faces.  There  was  printed  at  Ger- 
mantown.  Pa.,  in  the  year  1753,  a  work  entitled  "The 
Everlasting  Gospel,  commanded  to  be  preached  by  Jesus 
Christ  unto  all  Creatures."  The  author  of  this  work, 
according  to  the  title  page,  was  Paul  Seigvolck.  This, 
however,  was  but  a  pen-name.  The  author's  real  name 
was  George  Klein  Nicolai,  a  learned  Lutheran  minister, 
who  wrote  in  German.  A  translation  was  made  into 
English  by  John  Sower,  and  the  work  was  issued  by  Chris- 
topher Sower,  who  was  a  well-known  printer  of  Pennsyl- 
vania as  far  back  as  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. Sower  was  the  friend  of  Dr.  George  De  Benneville, 
the  first  known  preacher  of  universal  restitution  in  this 
country.  De  Benneville  had  spent  eighteen  years  in  Ger- 
man}', where  he  preached  extensively,  meanwhile  pursuing 
his  studies;  and  it  was  at  his  request,  no  doubt,  that  the 
translation  of  the  "Everlasting  Gospel"  was  made.  An- 
other work  published  in  the  same  year  at  Germantown  is 
entitled:  "The  Fatal  Consequences  of  the  Unscriptural 
Doctrine  of  Predestination  and  Reprobation,  written  in 
High  Dutch  by  j\L  K." 

"The  Everlasting  Gospel"  was  a  book  widely  read  in 
the  colonies.  Elhanan  Winchester  mentions  having  met 
with  a  copy  of  it  in  1778  at  the  house  of  a  friend  in  Soutli 
Carolina.  The  following  year  a  physician  from  Virginia 
came  to  live  in  Winchester's  Carolina  parish,  bringing 
with  him  a  copy  of  the  book.     Through  its  agency  Mr. 


118  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Winchester  became  a  convert  to  Universalism,  a  preacher 
of  its  doctrines,  and  popular  writer  in  its  defense.  Win- 
chesters first  publication  was  "The  Outcasts  Comforted," 
a  sermon  preached  in  the  University  of  Philadelphia  in 
1783  and  directed  to  the  members  of  the  Baptist  church 
who  had  rejected  him  for  holding  the  "Doctrine  of  the 
Final  Eestoration  of  All  Things."  The  famous  "Dia- 
logues between  a  Minister  and  his  Friend"  were  first  pub- 
lished in  London,  in  1792.  This  was  a  successful  book 
and  passed  through  many  editions,  both  in  England  and  in 
America.  Mr.  Winchester  in  "Sketches  of  his  Life" 
speaks  of  Stonehouse's  "Eestitutipn  of  All  Things"  as  a 
learned  work,  which  he  read  with  care,  and  whose  argu- 
ments, reasoning,  and  scripture  proof  seemed  to  him  to  be 
entirely  satisfactory.  An  edition  of  "The  Everlasting 
Gospel"  was  reprinted  for  the  editor,  Elhanan  Winchester, 
at  London  in  1793.  Another  edition  of  the  same  book 
was  gotten  out  in  Cincinnati,  in  1815,  by  John  Jenkinson, 
who  professes  to  have  received  "consolation  and  informa- 
tion (from  the  comments)  and  explanations  contained 
therein,"  and  who  claims  that  he  was  induced  to  republish 
it  with  "the  hope  that  it  might  have  the  same  effect  on  the 
minds  of  all  serious  enquirers  after  the  knowledge  of  the 
Truth  contained  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures."  The  editor 
informs  us  that  the  author's  preface  had,  through  "time 
and  abuse,"  been  lost,  which  he  suggests  need  not  in  the 
least  derogate  from  the  merits  of  the  work.  It  is  apparent 
that  the  publisher  did  not  have  the  title  at  hand,  for  he 
does  not  reprint  verbatim  and  besides  he  mis-spells 
Siegvolck.  The  little  volume  is  now  before  us.  The 
leather  binding  is  much  worn,  and  the  pages  time  stained ; 


BEFORE   AND   AFTER    WINCHESTER.  119 

but  the  print  is  still  clear  and  easily  read.  If  this  little 
book  could  reveal  to  us  the  story  of  its  eventful  career  it 
could  no  doubt  tell  of  long  journeys  up  and  down  the 
land,  passing  from  hand  to  hand,  proclaiming  in  its  mute 
way,  to  all  who  would  read,  as  the  editor  truly  says,  "the 
love,  mercy  and  justice  of  God  in  sending  his  beloved  Son 
to  suffer  for  the  universal  restoration  of  a  lost  world." 

The  early  history  of  Universalism  in  this  country  is  a 
record  of  a  warfare  which  taxed  to  the  utmost  its  devoted 
adherents.  Universal  salvation  was  the  most  constant 
theme  presented  in  our  pulpits,  and  the  subject  of  most 
frequent  controversy.  It  does  not  follow,  however,  that 
all  literary  efforts  of  our  people,  in  this  early  period,  was 
confined  to  controversial  subjects.  Mrs.  Judith  Sargent 
Murray,  wife  of  the  Eev.  John  Murray,  contributed  to 
the  Massachusetts  Magazine  during  the  years  1793-1796  a 
series  of  articles  over  the  assumed  name  of  "Constantia." 
These  productions,  with  large  additions,  were  printed  in 
book  form  in  1798.  They  fill  three  modest  sized  volumes 
and  are  attractively  bound  in  mottled  leather.  The  title 
given  them  is  "The  Gleaner,  a  Miscellaneous  Production." 
They  number  an  even  hundred,  and  are  written  after  the 
style  of  Addison's  Spectator,  which  was  a  very  popular 
book  in  that  day.  Religious  questions  were  studiously 
avoided  by  the  author,  and  political  themes  mildly 
handled.  Four  consecutive  numbers  of  the  third  volume 
constitute  a  defense  of  the  "Eights  of  Women."  The 
author  tells  us  that  these  were  intended  to  be  supple- 
mentary to  one  which  she  had  contributed  to  a  periodical 
some  3^ears  before,  under  the  title,  "The  Equality  of  the 
Sexes."    Mr.  Lockwood  tells  us  in  his  recent  book,  "The 


120  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

New  Harmony  Communities/'  that  Miss  Frances  Wright 
was  the  first  woman  in  America  to  advocate  "equal  rights" 
for  her  sex.  The  honor,  if  aught  be  due,  belongs  to  the 
wife  of  our  John  Murray,  who  had  pioneered  the  way  for 
this  reform  thirty-five  years  before  the  appearance  in 
America  of  the  "adorable  Fanny."  Mrs.  Murray's  popu- 
larity is  attested  by  the  fact  that  800  or  more  subscribers 
had  been  obtained  for  her  "Gleaner"  before  the  date  of 
publication.  The  list  which  is  appended  to  the  last 
volume  includes  the  names  of  many  persons  distinguished 
in  American  history.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  a  num- 
ber of  the  subscribers  were  residents  of  the  then  far  away 
territory  of  the  Northwest.  The  list  of  these  is  as  follows : 
Capt.  W.  H.  Harrison;  Mrs.  Harrison;  Maj.  I.  S.  Gano; 
T.  Goudy,  Esq.,  Atty.  at  Law ;  Mrs.  Sara  Goudy,  2  copies ; 
Mr.  George  Gerdin;  T.  Gibson,  Esq.;  Mrs.  Charlotte  C. 
Ludlow,  2  copies;  Maj.  J.  M.  Lovell,  U.  S.  Army;  C. 
Smith,  Judge  Advocate  U.  S.  Army;  Capt.  B.  Sham- 
burgh,  Mrs.  Eliza  Sellman,  and  Mrs.  Eliza  Symms.  The 
latter  was  undoubtedly  the  wife  of  Judge  Cleves  Symms, 
and  hence  the  great  grandmother  of  the  late  Benjamin 
Harrison. 

By  the  year  1821  there  had  been  formed  in  Northern 
Ohio  two  associations  and  a  number  of  societies.  Kev. 
Timothy  Bigelow  reports  to  the  "Christian  Intelligencer" 
of  Portland,  Maine  (1822),  the  "addition  of  ten  preachers 
within  one  year;  viz.,  three  from  the  Baptists,  two  from 
the  Methodists,  two  from  the  Christians,  and  three  from 
the  Universalist  societies."  That  unique  character  in  our 
Zion,  Father  Stacy,  attended  the  meeting  of  the  Western 
Keserve  Association,  held  at  Olmstead,  in  1834.     He  in- 


BEFORE   AND   AFTER   WINCHESTER.  121 

forms  us  that  "Eev.  A.  Beals  was  the  only  prcaclier  of 
Universalism  in  that  regioD,  whose  fidelity  and  stability 
had  enabled  him  to  outride  the  tempest  which,  a  few  years 
before,  had  engulfed  every  other  preacher  within  the 
limits  of  the  Association  in  the  dark  whirlpool  of  Par- 
tialism." 

The  Timothy  Bigelow  named  above  was  a  Winchester 
preacher  in  1810  and  the  first  Universalist  preacher  to  be- 
come a  resident  of  Ohio,  but  not  the  first  minister  to  pro- 
claim the  doctrine  of  universal  salvation  within  the  state. 
Kev.  Abel  Morgan  Sargent  preached  in  Eome  Township, 
xA.thens  Count}^  as  early  as  1807.  A  contemporary  says 
that  Sargent  in  early  life  was  a  Baptist  preacher,  that 
about  the  year  1802  he  became  a  believer  in  the  annihila- 
tion of  the  wicked ;  and  that  finally  he  accepted  a  modified 
form  of  Universalism.  In  the  year  1812  he  resided  on  a 
farm,  in  Gallia  County,  taught  school  and  preached  as  he 
had  an  opportunity.  Mr.  Sargent  is  described  as  a  well 
educated  man,  a  gentleman  in  deportment  and  conversa- 
tion, and  a  very  attractive  speaker.  He  organized  a  num- 
ber of  societies  in  southern  Ohio  under  the  name  of 
"Halc3'0ns."  He  framed  for  their  guidance  a  creed,  and 
printed  a  "Halcyon"  hymn  book  at  Marietta  about  the 
year  1826.  Two  of  his  converts  became  preachers  of  the 
"Halycon"  doctrine;  viz.,  William  Campbell  and  Daniel 
Parker. 

In  the  month  of  July,  1827,  there  appeared  in  the 
Cincinnati  Saturday  Evening  Chronicle  a  quarter  column 
advertisement  of  a  somewhat  enigmatical  character.  It 
began  as  follows :  "Prospectus  by  the  Catholic  Liberating 
Community,  for  publishing  a  periodical  work,  entitled  the 


122  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

'Lamp  of  Liberty/  in  vindication  of  the  Trimitive 
Christian  Faith  and  Free  Church.' "  It  was  to  be  pub- 
lished monthly  and  be  34  duodecimo  pages  in  size. 
Neither  the  name  of  the  publisher  or  editor  was  given  in 
the  advertisement  mentioned.  In  the  Chronicle  for  the 
date  of  September  29th  is  found  this  notice:  "LAMP 
OF  LIBEETY.  The  third  number  of  this  work  is  just 
published.  Those  subscribers  who  have  not  received  this 
number  can  obtain  it  by  calling  at  the  ofhce  of  the  Even- 
ing Chronicle."  The  A.  M.  Sargent  whose  name  is  ap- 
pended to  the  notice  is  without  doubt  the  Eev.  Abel  Mor- 
gan Sargent,  whose  announcement  of  preaching  appears 
in  the  Chronicle  several  times  that  year.  The  appoint- 
ment of  Mr.  Daniel  Parker  also  appears  at  frequent  inter- 
vals at  about  the  same  time.  An  old  resident  of  Cin- 
cinnati mentions  that  Sebastian  Streeter  delivered  a  dis- 
course in  Cincinnati  about  the  year  1825,  and  that 
Thomas  Whittemore  preached  in  the  old  Court  House, 
probably  during  the  year  1826.  In  the  little  work  en- 
titled "Cincinnati  in  1826,"  reference  is  made  to  a  com- 
pany calling  themselves  "Universalians,"  and  it  is  stated 
that  they  were  expecting  to  erect  for  themselves  a  house  of 
worship.  We  infer  from  the  following  local  that  ap- 
peared in  the  Chronicle  in  1827  that  they  succeeded  in 
their  enterprise:  "Miss  Harriet  Livermore,  a  celebrated 
female  preacher,  has  excited  much  attention  here  during 
the  past  week.  On  Wednesday  she  preached  at  the 
TJniversalist  meeting-house  to  an  overflowing  audience.'* 
The  reporter  informs  us  that  the  woman  gave  a  "sprink- 
ling of  the  dead  languages  and  concluded  with  an  exhorta- 
tion to  her  hearers  in  torrent  of  eloquence  and  shower  of 


BEFORE  AND  AFTER   WINCHESTER.  123 

tears."  The  Miss  Livermore  here  spoken  of  was  the 
"Stranger  Guest"  of  Whittier's  Snow  Bound,  and  was  re- 
garded as  somewhat  eccentric.  That  she  obtained  the  use 
of  the  Universaiist  church  for  her  meeting  is  to  my  mind 
a  testimonial  to  the  spirit  of  broad  charity  and  toleration 
which  pervaded  the  little  company,  which  on  the  25th  day 
of  May,  1827,  organized  itself  into  a  Universaiist  society. 

Who  directed  the  movement  that  resulted  in  the 
formation  of  the  Cincinnati  church  is  not  now  known.  It 
is  probable  that  the  credit  belongs  to  Jonathan  Ki dwell, 
who  on  the  date  named  was  traveling  a  circuit  embracing 
nine  of  the  western  counties  of  Ohio  and  seven  of  the 
eastern  counties  of  Indiana.  Kidwell  was  the  most  widely 
known  of  all  our  Western  pioneer  preachers,  and  his 
career  demands  from  us  more  than  passing  notice.  From 
the  grandsons  now  residing  at  Ellwood,  Ind.,  we  learn  that 
Jonathan  Kidwell  was  born  near  Mt.  Sterling,  Ky.,  May 
1,  1779,  of  poor  but  pious  parents,  who  had  been  brought 
up  in  the  high  Church  of  England,  but  had  joined  the 
Methodist  church  on  emigrating  to  Kentucky.  They 
were  not  able  to  give  their  children  even  a  common  school 
education,  mainly  for  the  reason  that  the  country  was  an 
almost  unbroken  wilderness,  and  settlers  were  few  in 
numbers  and  widely  separated,  and  dwelt  in  constant  fear 
of  wild  beasts  and  their  still  deadlier  foes,  the  wily  In- 
dian. 

Jonathan  Kidwell,  however,  was  carefuly  instructed 
in  the  religious  belief  of  his  parents,  and  accepted  without 
question  the  "awful  doctrine  of  a  God  of  wrath,  who  would 
consign  all  unrepentant  sinners  to  a  place  of  endless  tor- 
ment."   At  the  age  of  eighteen  young  Kidwell,  as  he  himself 


124  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

informs  us,  "experienced  what  the  world  calls  religion,  and 
from  that  an  earnest  desire  to  save  souls  from  that  awful 
place  called  hell,  joined  the  Methodist  church  and  com- 
menced preaching  with  no  more  than  three  months'  school- 
ing and  an  almost  entire  ignorance  of  the  world."  He 
continued  to  preach  in  the  Methodist  church  for  seven 
years,  when  he  was  led  to  abandon  the  church  of  his  youth 
and  to  become  a  member  of  the  Christian  denomination, 
where  more  freedom  of  thought  was  permissible.  For 
Jonathan  Kidwell  there  was  no  half  way  halting  place. 
At  the  end  of  two  years  he  discarded  orthodoxy  entirely 
and  for  a  time  was  wholly  indifEerent  to  the  claims  of 
religion.  About  the  year  1815  he  re-read  his  Bible  in  the 
light  of  his  greater  knowledge  and  wider  experience.  The 
result  was  that  he  became  a  Universalist,  and  from  that 
time  till  the  day  of  his  death,  in  1855,  was  a  consistent 
and  unwavering  advocate  of  Universal  Salvation.  He 
settled  with  his  family  at  Sulphur  Spring,  near  Abington, 
in  Wayne  County,  Ind.,  from  which  retreat  he  went  forth 
to  do  battle  in  an  unpopular  cause.  The  calumny,  perse- 
cution and  even  personal  violence,  that  he  met  with  at  the 
hands  of  his  opposers  is  unparalleled  in  the  history  of 
even  the  Universalist  ministry.  When  he  formed  the 
circuit  in  1826  it  was  estimated  that  fewer  than  200  Uni- 
versalists  were  found  in  all  Southern  Ohio  and  Indiana. 
In  1829  the  avowed  believers  in  the  same  region  were 
thought  to  number  more  than  2,000.  Mr.  Kidwell's  con- 
verts were  not  made  up  of  "negative  Universalists,"  but 
were  plastic  material  ready  for  the  builder's  hand.  The 
leader  was  not  slow  to  recognize  the  fact.  In  1826  a  meet- 
ing was  held  in  Jacksonburg,  Ohio,  which  resulted  in  the 


BEFORE   AND   AFTER    WINCHESTER.  125 

formation  of  an  association  under  the  title:  "The  Con- 
vention of  Universalists  of  the  AYestern  States."  The 
second  meeting  was  held  near  Franklin,  in  Warren 
county,  in  October,  1827,  and  was  styled  a  "convention  of 
brethren  professing  the  Abrahamic  and  Universalist 
faith."  Samuel  Tizzard  was  the  first  President  and  P.  J. 
Laboyteau,  first  Secretary.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
the  Ohio  convention,  although  the  founders  did  not  intend 
it  to  be  exclusively  such.  This  year,  1827,  marks  another 
step  in  the  progress  of  Universalism  in  the  Northwest. 
In  August  the  first  number  of  the  "Star  in  the  West"  was 
printed  at  Eaton,  Ohio.  It  was  a  small  eight-page 
monthly  and  had  for  its  editors,  Jonathan  Kidwell  and 
D.  D.  Hall.  Mr.  Kidwell  traveled  and  procured  sub- 
scribers. The  work  of  publication  devolved  upon  Samuel 
Tizzard,  a  practical  printer,  who  seems  to  have  assumed 
the  sole  financial  responsibility.  At  the  close  of  the  second 
volume  the  office  was  moved  to  Cincinnati  and  the  paper 
greatly  enlarged  and  changed  to  a  weekly.  The  new  paper 
was  called  "The  Sentinel  and  the  Star  in  the  W^est,"  the 
first  number  of  which  was  dated  October  3,  1829.  Mr. 
Hall's  name  appears  no  longer  as  one  of  the  editors,  but 
instead,  that  of  J.  C.  Waldo,  who  seems  to  have  been  the 
chief  contributor.  Mr.  Waldo  was  also  minister  of  the 
Cincinnati  church,  but  found  time,  in  addition  to  the 
faithful  performance  of  all  these  duties,  to  travel  exten- 
sively and  preach  in  the  neighboring  towns  and  villages, 
in  all  of  which  places,  he  writes,  "I  have  had  crowded 
assemblies." 

On  one  of  his  journeys  he  preached  at  Augusta,  Ken- 
tucky.   Before  entering  the  pulpit  for  the  evening  service, 


126  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

he  was  handed  a  note  containing  the  request  that  he 
preach  on  the  parable  of  the  "sheep  and  the  goats."  He 
accepted  the  invitation  and  delivered  a  powerful  doctrinal 
sermon.  The  anonymous  request  had  come  from  Dr.  L. 
F.  W.  Andrews,  and  was  made  in  the  spirit  of  banter.  The 
Doctor  confessed  afterward  to  have  been  converted  by  that 
sermon,  and  became  a  well-known  preacher  of  our  faith, 
mainly  in  the  Southern  States.  He  was  once  settled  in 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  Waldo  was  blessed  with  one  of  the 
saints  for  a  wife,  a  daughter  of  Father  Hosea  Ballou.  She 
was  a  poetess  of  no  mean  talent,  and  an  honor  to  the 
church  of  which  she  was  a  most  devoted  adherent. 

For  a  number  of  years  Jonathan  Kidwell  continued 
to  serve  as  the  field  agent  of  the  "Sentinel,"  as  it  was 
called.  He  visited  the  remotest  parts  of  the  country,  and 
frequently  preached  where  Universalism  was  but  little 
known.  While  on  a  business  trip  to  Indianapolis,  in  the 
winter  of  1829,  Mr.  Kidwell,  by  request,  preached  a  num- 
ber of  times  in  the  old  State  House.  At  the  close  of  his 
last  lecture,  Eev.  Edwin  Eay,  a  young  Methodist  minister 
of  the  capitol  city,  arose  and  announced  that  he  would 
reply  to  the  arguments  that  Mr.  Kidwell  had  advanced. 
He  was  promptly  invited  to  do  so  then  and  there,  but 
firmly  refused.  A  challenge  for  a  joint  public  debate 
quickly  followed.  The  discussion  took  place  in  the  Metho- 
dist meeting-house,  January  21,  1830,  and  drew  an  im- 
mense crowd  of  interested  people.  The  legislature  voted 
to  adjourn  in  order  that  the  members  might  attend  the 
debate.  The  clergy  of  the  city  were  solidly  arrayed  against 
the  champion  of  Universalism,  and  the  local  papers  mani- 
fested a  bias  in  favor  of  Mr.  Eay.     As  usual  orthodoxy 


BEFORE   AND   AFTER   WINCHESTER.  127 

claimed  tlio  victory,  but  it  was  evident  that  they  were  sur- 
prised at  the  capable  defense  made  by  Mr.  Kidwell,  for 
Mr.  Kay's  friends  would  not  consent  to  the  publication  of 
an  official  report.  Mr.  Kidwell  on  his  own  account  pre- 
pared "A  Series  of  Strictures/'  or  notes,  on  the  debate, 
filling  about  one  hundred  pages;  and  these,  with  some 
additional  matter,  were  printed  in  book  form  and  widely 
circulated. 

In  the  year  1833  the  "Sentinel"  again  became  a  wan- 
derer. This  time  the  press  was  removed  to  Indiana  and 
set  up  in  the  backwoods  where  Mr.  Kidwell  and  a  few 
friends  were  proposing  to  establish  a  Universalist  town 
and  found  an  unsectarian  academy.  The  enterprise  not 
meeting  with  any  measure  of  success,  Mr.  Tizzard  re- 
turned to  Cincinnati  and  continued  to  publish  "The  Star 
in  the  West,"  with  George  Eogers  as  editor.  In  1837  the 
"Star"  was  published  by  John  A.  Gurley,  an  energetic, 
capable  Universalist  preacher  from  Methuen  in  the  old 
Bay  State.  Mr.  Tizzard  being  relieved  of  the  Cincinnati 
paper,  took  up  his  residence  in  Eaton  and  became  the  pub- 
lisher of  the  "Eaton  Register,"  which  he  continued  to  edit 
until  his  death  in  18-1-1.  Mr.  Tizzard  was  highly  esteemed 
by  his  neighbors,  who  honored  him  with  a  seat  in  the  Ohio 
Legislature  and  elected  him  to  preside  over  the  court  of 
Preble  County.  No  Universalist  layman  of  that  day  sac- 
rificed so  much  for  the  cause  as  he.  Soon  after  the  re- 
moval of  the  "Star"  from  Philomath,  the  name  by  which 
the  town  was  known,  Mr.  Kidwell  purchased  a  press  and 
commenced  the  publication  of  a  monthly  journal  which  he 
named  "The  Encyclopedia,  or  Circle  of  Sciences,"  seven 
volumes  of  which  were  issued. 


128  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

At  this  date  the  first  census  of  Universalists  in 
America  was  made.  The  attempt  was  far  from  being  sat- 
isfactory, and  the  statistics  very  unreliable ;  but  they  fur- 
nish some  data  by  which  to  judge  of  the  progress  of 
Universalism.  At  this  period  there  were  in  Ohio  between 
thirty  and  forty  societies  and  fourteen  preachers.  The 
leading  societies  were  located  in  Cincinnati,  Watertown, 
Marietta,  Perrysburg,  Oxford,  Conneaut,  Lexington, 
Geneva,  Saybrook,  Nelson  and  Belpre.  The  preachers  were 
A.  A.  Davis,  E.  Beals,  A.  Bond,  J.  Bradley,  D.  E.  Biddle- 
come,  T.  De  Wolf,  F.  H.  Johnson,  W.  H.  Jolley,  J.  J.  Hol- 
lister,  Freeman  Strong,  D.  Tenney,  G.  Eogers,  N.  Wads- 
worth  and  C,  Eichardson.  At  that  date  Universalism  had 
made  some  progress  in  Indiana,  and  there  were  societies  in 
Leavenworth,  Greenville,  High  Banks,  Laconia  and  Lib- 
erty. E.  B.  Mann  and  Jonathan  Kidwell  are  the  only 
ministers  accredited  to  Indiana  by  the  first  Eegister. 

The  foregoing  notes  are  but  the  framework  of  what 
might  become,  with  proper  arrangement,  several  interest- 
ing addresses.  We  have  no  time  to  work  up  this  material, 
even  if  we  possessed  the  required  skill ;  so  we  ofEer  them 
for  what  they  are  worth  as  a  contribution  to  this  centen- 
nial commemoration  by  the  Universalist  Convention  of 
Indiana  of  the  adoption  in  1803  of  the  Winchester  Pro- 
fession of  Belief. 


PASTOR  AND  PARISH  OFFICIALS— Winchester. 


MISS  J.  GRACE  ALEXANDER.      E.  L.  ALEXANDER.  MRS.  F.  B.  CARPENTER. 

W.    A.    ALEXANDER.  REV.    C.    J.    HARRIS.  J.    A.   GALE. 

HON.  H.  \V.  BRIGHAM. 


The  Winchester  of  To-day.' 

REV.   CLARENCE  J.   HARRIS. 

Mr.  President,  and  visiting  friends:  We  would  not 
have  you  understand  that  we  under-estimate  in  any  degree 
the  value  of  the  Winchester  of  the  past.  It  is  certain  that 
the  best  blood,  the  best  brain,  and  the  best  character  of  to- 
day are  but  the  products  of  yesterday. 

Our  church  has  had  a  noble  history,  and  we  have  had 
great  men  in  the  past ;  but  it  is  equally  true  we  are  writing 
today  as  glorious  a  history  and  are  producing  men  of  the 
highest  tyiDe  of  Christian  manhood. 

We  have  had  our  Murrays,  Potters,  Ballous,  IMiners, 
Chapins  and  their  kind,  and  we  have  their  quality  here 
today  in  this  old  Winchester  church,  the  scene  of  one  of  the 
greatest  acts  of  our  denomination.  The  names  of  Hawkins, 
Alexander,  Ball,  Willis,  Saben,  Eixford  and  others  are 
ploughed  deep  in  the  history  of  this  church,  and  they  are 
names  which  well  represent  some  strong  pioneers  of  Uni- 
versalism  in  the  state  of  New  Hampshire.  Sons  and 
daughters  of  these  noble  leaders  are  still  here,  who,  with 
many  additional  names,  are  doing  their  best  for  this  mother 
church  of  the  faith. 

Had  it  not  been  for  these  brave  persons,  the  doors  of 
this  church  would  not  now  be  open.  This  society  has  seen 
dark  and  trying  days.  For  years  at  a  time  the  doors  have 
been  closed,  and  the  dust  covered  the  altar  where  there 

'Abstract   of  remarks  at  the  Winchester   Centennial   service,   Thursday 
afternoon,  October  i. 

(129) 


180  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

ought  to  have  been  fire ;  but  conditions  were  not  long  to  re- 
main such,  for  brave  women,  whom  I  could  point  out  to  you 
now  in  the  congregation  if  I  choose,  came  to  this  neglected 
structure,  opened  her  doors,  and  these  brave  women  of  the 
cross  have  kept  them  open  ever  since. 

Once  the  people  here  felt  that  the  great  denomination 
which  had  built  so  grandly  with  this  church  as  a  corner- 
stone, had  forgotten  the  Winchester  church,  and  I  feel 
now,  fellow  laborers,  that  the  denomination  does  not  yet 
show  the  interest  in  this  church  that  her  place  in  our  his- 
tory demands. 

Look  about  you!  Is  not  this  a  beautiful  building? 
Thousands  of  dollars  have  been  spent  to  make  it  beautiful. 
To  my  left  is  the  organ,  a  most  inspiring  monument,  with 
its  voice  of  divine  sweetness,  to  the  memory  of  our  brave 
fathers  of  1803.  You  noted  the  determination  and  en- 
thusiasm with  which  our  most  zealous  worker  screwed  on 
the  gold  plate  last  evening,  and  her  push  and  purpose 
caused  a  smile  of  pleasure  for  you  all.  Let  me  say  that 
every  part  of  that  instrument  was  put  in  with  the  same 
zealous  spirit,  and  in  like  spirit  does  the  Winchester  of 
today  do  her  work. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  ask  for  your  help  and  co-op- 
eration, but  to  tell  you  what  is  being  done  today.  On  yon- 
der elevation,  like  a  city  on  a  hill  that  can  not  be  hid,  is  our 
new  "Centennial  Parsonage."  We  began  the  new  year  by 
purchasing  it,  and  trust  to  finish  its  payment  this  year 
as  a  further  memorial  of  the  event  of  the  past  century. 
We  have  asked  no  one  outside  for  help,  for  we  believed 
we  must  do  our  best  first.  Aside  from  putting  our  little 
church  into  perfect  repair,  internally  and  externally,  and 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL.  CHOIR.  LADIES'  AID— WINCHESTER. 

MRS.   F.    E.    LEON.XRl).  J.    L.    HOLL.VND,  K.    E.    LEONARD, 

Organist.  Sunday  School  Superintendent.  Chorister. 

MISS   SARAH   RIXFORD,        MISS   MARY   PLATT,     MRS.    W.    A.   ALEXANDER, 

Church  Treasurer.        Junior  Superintendent.    Pre.s.  Ladies'  Society. 


THE    WINCHESTER   OF   TODAY.  131 

placing  herein  the  organ,  we  have  also  raised  and  paid 
about  $1,500  on  the  parsonage,  which  makes,  since  the 
beginning  of  the  present  pastorate,  a  sum  of  about  $4,000. 
Should  any  here  be  desirous  of  having  part  in  our  Centen- 
nial Parsonage,  an  opportunity  will  be  given  in  the  vestry. 

P'riends :  The  fires  are  burning  on  the  altar  in  the 
temple  of  this  Universalist  Mecca.  Brave  men  and  wo- 
men have  laid  their  lives  on  its  altar  as  willing  sacrifices. 
They  are  doing  their  best,  but  one  day  those  heads  now  be- 
ing crowned  in  gray  must  rest ;  these  bodies  of  our  fathers 
and  mothers  must  slumber  in  peace;  where,  then,  will  be 
your  Winchester? 

Let  this  church  be  a  central  point  of  the  denomina- 
tion's affections,  and  may  you  see  to  it  that  her  doors  shall 
never  close  again,  but  that  she  will  stand  as  a  living  monu- 
ment to  the  memory  of  our  holy,  sainted  fathers,  who  here 
sounded  a  note  that  has  been  heard  the  world  around,  call- 
ing men  to  worship  a  God  whose  love  and  affection  know 
no  limitations,  but  are  for  all  of  the  children  of  men. 


"The  Old  and  the  New.'" 

FREDERICK  A.   BISBEE,  D.   D. 

"The  glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  be  greater  than  of  the  former, 
saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts;  and  in  this  place  I  will  give  peace,  saith  the 
Lord   of   Hosts."     Haggai,    11:9. 

To  THOSE  who  are  familiar  with  the  architecture  of  our 
churches  of  a  century  ago  and  that  of  today;  to  those  who 
can  compare  our  denominational  resources  then  and  now; 
to  those  who  have  given  thought  to  the  changes  in  the 
religious  conditions  during  the  last  one  hundred  years,  the 
words  of  this  text  will  at  once  appeal  and  become  lumi- 
nous with  significance.  And  with  their  help  it  is  my  pur- 
pose to  take  you  on  the  heights  of  vision  to  which  we  have 
been  lifted  by  this  inspiring  occasion  and  lead  you  through 
simple  paths  gently  down  into  the  valley  of  practical 
service. 

The  end  of  everything  is  the  beginning  of  something 
else.  The  end  of  the  day  the  beginning  of  the  night,  and 
not  less  is  the  end  of  the  night  the  beginning  of  the  day. 
The  end  of  life  the  beginning  of  death,  and  even  so  the 
end  of  death  the  beginning  of  life.  The  end  of  one  cen- 
tury not  the  finish  of  time,  but  the  beginning  of  another. 
And  standing  as  we  do  upon  the  great  divide  between  the 
centuries,  we  can  look  backward  and  forward  and,  from  our 
point  of  vantage,  make  a  study  of  the  Old  and  the  New. 

I  have  stood  in  the  old  building  which  has  replaced 
the  oldest  church  in  America    dedicated  to  the  universal 


'Closing  sermon  at  the  Winchester  Centennial,  Thursday  evening,  Octo- 
ber I,  by  the  Editor  of  The  Universalist  Leader. 

(132) 


THE   OLD   AND    THE   NEW.  133 

love  of  God — originally  the  house  which  Thomas  Potter 
builded  in  faith  in  the  pine  forests  of  New  Jersey.  Though 
changed  by  time  and  the  hand  of  man,  it  yet  retains  a 
suggestion  of  the  original  accommodations  for  worship 
and  service  and  is  a  type  of  the  buildings  in  which  our 
fathers  worshiped.  But  a  few  yards  from  it  stands  the 
^Icmorial  Church,  which,  a  hundred  years  later,  a  grateful 
denomination  erected  in  commemoration  of  the  devoted 
Columbus  of  the  new  religious  world  which  he  gave  to 
humanity.  The  new  building  stands,  beautiful  in  design, 
firm  of  foundation,  enduring  in  material,  and  adapted  to 
the  needs  of  modern  religious  service,  in  such  marked 
contrast  with  the  old  as  to  well  fulfill  the  prophetic  words 
of  Scripture,  "The  glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  be 
greater  than  of  the  former." 

And  we  have  but  to  call  to  mind  the  crude  structures 
of  a  century  ago  in  which  the  people  gathered  to  praise 
the  Lord  and  contrast  them  with  the  beautiful  temples 
adorned  with  luxury  and  endowed  with  every  encourage- 
ment to  worship  and  suggestion  of  the  beauty  of  holiness, 
to  appreciate  how  these  two  historic  buildings  in  the  soli- 
tude of  the  forest  typify  the  changes  and  improvements 
the  centurv'^  has  wrought. 

Yet  none  shall  claim  there  was  no  glory  in  the  old, 
for  like  a  beacon  in  the  darkness  did  that  primitive  'Tiouse 
in  the  woods,"  a  foregleam  of  that  later  "House  of  the 
Woods"  at  The  Hague,  which  became  the  world's  temple 
of  peace,  send  forth  its  love-light  to  dispel  the  gloom  of 
cruelty,  ignorance  and  sin.  It  was  glorious,  and  yet  is 
this  latter  house  of  greater  glory. 

The  lone  man  in  the  forest  dreaming  of  the  time 


IM  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

when  one  should  come  through  to  whom  the  thought  of 
his  heart  should  be  revealed,  was  glorious  in  his  solitude; 
but  greater  the  glory  when,  after  many  years,  there  gath- 
ered among  the  hills  of  New  Hampshire  a  little  group  of 
devoted  men  to  organize  the  thought  of  Potter  into  specific 
statement,  its  followers  into  an  efficient  church. 

We  are  here  to  glorify  them  and  their  work.  Theirs 
was  an  achievement  to  command  the  respect  and  gratitude 
of  the  ages.  Sublime  the  audacity  of  two  dozen  ministers 
and  three  dozen  churches,  the  latter  but  little  more  than 
congregations  without  organic  life,  to  attempt  to  face  the 
combined  ecclesiastical,  social  and  political  forces  of  the 
time  and  assert  their  right  to  be.  Splendid  the  heroism, 
not  unlike  that  other  group  of  disciples,  eighteen  centuries 
before,  to  attempt  the  victory  of  the  world !  Yet  must 
they  felt  themselves  well  equipped  for  service  when  com- 
pared with  those  still  earlier  in  the  service.  It  must  have 
seemed  to  them  that  already  great  victories  had  been  won 
to  have  given  them  so  many  churches  and  such  a  band  of 
leaders.    And  glory  shone  around  them. 

But  consider  the  achievements  of  the  century.  The 
hundreds  of  people  have  multiplied  into  tens  of  thou- 
sands; where  twenty-five  clergymen  ministered  to  thirty- 
eight  churches,  now  over  seven  hundred  ministers  serve  a 
thousand  parishes;  where  there  was  poverty  in  financial 
equipment,  now  we  count  wealth  by  millions;  where 
education  was  drawn  from  reluctant  sources,  we  now 
find  occasion  for  pride  in  schools,  colleges  and  uni- 
versities serving  the  church  which  gave  them  being;  in 
place  of  social  and  political  ostracism  there  is  general  rec- 
ognition of  liberty  and  equality;  where  each  church  strug- 


THE   OLD   AND    THE   NEW.  135 

gled  for  bare  existence  in  lonely  isolation,  and  each  min- 
ister fought  his  battles  as  an  individual,  in  compact  organ- 
ization there  is  co-operation  in  aggressive  missionary  ef- 
fort; where  each  church  was  but  a  congregation  of  indi- 
viduals, held  together  often  only  as  a  means  of  self-defence, 
there  are  Cliristian  churches  serving  God  in  unity  of  spirit 
and  in  the  bonds  of  peace;  where  differences  of  belief  were 
as  many  as  the  individuals  who  believed,  there  has  grown 
a  systematic  theology  the  foundation  of  which  was  laid 
here  among  the  granite  hills,  a  temple  of  truth,  in  which 
liberty  of  opinion  prevails,  but  ever  facing  the  altar  of 
God.  Behold,  the  glory  of  this  latter  house  is  greater  than 
of  the  former. 

The  achievements  of  our  denomination  in  the  century 
must  give  joy  to  every  loyal  heart;  but  they  are  not  to  be 
reckoned  alone  in  local  conditions,  for  the  larger  victory 
is  that  whose  results  can  not  be  tabulated  in  figures,  but 
which  manifests  itself  in  the  new  spirit  prevailing  through- 
out those  churches  once  arrayed  in  deadly  opposition  to 
the  cause  we  represent.  Then  was  each  church  a  fortress 
for  battle,  and  royal  were  the  conflicts  when  it  seemed 
there  were  giants  in  those  da5's  who  strove  for  victory. 
Now  in  this  place  there  is  peace,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 
Day  by  day  and  year  by  year  the  spirit  of  Love  has  won 
into  the  hearts  of  men,  and  their  hearts  and  faces  and  pur- 
poses and  methods  have  been  transformed,  wdth  resultant 
new  conditions  which  it  will  be  profitable  for  us  to  con- 
sider in  comparison  with  the  old. 

In  spite  of  the  facts,  with  which  we  are  all  familiar, 
of  the  decadence  of  churches,  the  lack  of  attendance  and 
of  support  and  the  general  feeling  of  indifference,  I  am 


136  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

moved  to  proclaim,  as  a  seeming  contradiction,  that  this 
is  a  day  of  great  religious  interest  and  the  dawning  of  a 
great  religious  revival.  It  is  an.  interest  manifesting  itself 
by  new  methods  and  in  new  quarters.  The  leaders  of  the 
intellectual  life  are  beginning  to  recognize  that  there  can 
be  no  complete  life  from  which  religion  is  left  out.  The 
students  of  economics  are  recognizing  that  there  can  be 
no  solution  of  its  great  problems  without  religion,  and  the 
social  reformers  make  their  appeal  with  the  principles  of 
religion.  Literature  is  flavored  with  the  religious  spirit, 
and  science  adjusts  itself  to  the  facts  of  the  spiritual  life. 
The  only  discouraging  feature  being  the  abandonment  of 
the  real,  vital  worth  of  religion  by  the  churches  them- 
selves, which  have  cheapened  and  sacrificed  their  sublime 
and  divine  office,  as  Professor  Harnack  says,  "by  crying 
up  religion  as  though  it  were  a  job  lot  at  a  sale  or  a  uni- 
versal remedy  for  all  social  ills;  snatching  at  all  sorts  of 
baubles  so  as  to  deck  out  religion  in  fine  clothes,  depriving 
it  of  its  earnest  character.''  Too  many  have  been  selling 
their  divine  birthright  for  a  soup  kitchen;  turning  the 
heaven  of  a  Christ-like  humanity  into  the  Mahomedan 
heaven  of  material  luxuries ;  substituting  clothes  and  food 
for  spiritual  vision  and  moral  ideals ;  abandoning  the 
culture  of  trees  to  distribute  the  fruits  thereof;  shutting 
up  the  fountains  of  eternal  life  to  serve  the  nectar  of  a 
day;  depreciating  the  supreme  value  of  the  church  as  the 
temple  of  Almighty  God  to  make  it  the  playhouse  of  a 
pleasure-loving  age ;  appealing  to  the  greed  and  selfishness 
and  passion  instead  of  to  the  nobility  and  divinity  of  the 
race ;  putting  the  divine  on  the  defensive  against  the  human 
and  bartering  the  royal  possessions  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 
for  the  pitiable  trifles  of  earth. 


THE   OLD   AND    THE   NEW.  137 

But  there  are  still  commanders  and  leaders  in  the 
church  who  are  awake  to  the  dangers  and  wide  awake  to 
welcome  the  dawn  of  a  new  time;  yea,  who  lift  the  cur- 
tains of  the  East  to  let  in  the  glorious  rays  of  promise. 
That  keen  ohserver  of  conditions  and  wise  director  of  both 
ideals  and  actions,  Dr.  Josiah  Strong,  sends  forth  his  mes- 
sage of  "The  Next  Great  Awakening."  And  out  of  the 
East  comes  a  wise  man  in  the  person  of  Eev.  R.  J.  Camp- 
bell, who,  with  spiritual  vision  which  ranks  him  among 
the  prophets  of  earth,  announces  the  coming  of  a  great 
revival  of  that  which  is  truest  and  best  in  religion ;  the 
same  great  evangel  which  through  all  the  ages  has  stirred 
the  hearts  of  men,  intensified  with  an  assurance  of  uni- 
versal victory  in  the  ultimate  salvation  of  all  souls  from 
sin. 

But  the  new  revival  is  not  to  be  the  reproduction  of 
any  that  have  gone  before.  Those  have  been  marked  first 
by  fervor  and  enthusiasm,  later  by  deadening  controversies 
over  Biblical  texts  and  scholastic  methods ;  then  there  were 
philosophical  arguments  and  ethical  appeals.  All  these 
were  the  legitimate  steps  leading  to  the  consummation  of 
them  all,  a  great  spiritual  awakening,  the  fruits  of  which 
shall  be  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  good- 
ness, faith,  meekness  and  temperance,  the  desideratum  of 
all  who  look  for  human  betterment. 

The  new  time  brings  a  new  object.  Once  the  pur- 
pose of  religion  and  all  its  ministrations  was  to  produce  a 
change  in  the  disposition  of  God,  make  him  good-natured 
so  that  he  would  admit  the  souls  of  men  into  heaven  which 
they  did  not  deserve  and  for  which  they  were  not  fitted. 
Those  were  times  of  battle  between  the  advocates  of  differ- 


138  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

ent  schools  of  method  of  pleasing  God.  There  was  crying 
on  every  side,  "Here  is  the  only  way ;  come  with  us,  or  you 
can  not  be  saved ;  all  other  ways  are  ways  of  peril  and  lead 
but  to  destruction."  Scripture  and  philosophy  were  called 
upon  to  establish  a  right  of  way ;  resort  was  made  to  things 
extraordinary,  thinking  to  win  the  favor  of  an  angry  or 
indifEerent  God.  All  that  has  changed.  Men  have  come 
to  recognize  that  a  God  to  be  God  can  not  need  any  mod- 
ifications of  his  character  or  purpose ;  that  he  is  perfect  or 
he  is  nothing.  But  behold,  the  need  of  change  and  im- 
provement is  here  in  this  world  among  men;  we  are  the 
ones  who  need,  not  God;  and  so  a  new  direction  was  given 
to  religion.  It  swung  from  heaven  to  earth  and  began  a  new 
ministry  like  that  of  its  Founder  here  among  men,  to  up- 
lift, to  purify,  to  illumine,  to  inspire,  to  glorify.  At  once 
it  faced  appalling  difficulties,  and  must  needs  readjust 
itself  to  its  new  service. 

Whatever  was  the  glory  of  the  old,  and  that  glory  is 
not  to  be  denied,  for  the  blundering  steps  of  childhood 
must  ever  anticipate  the  vigorous  pace  of  man,  the  glory 
of  the  new  is  far  greater,  and  as  the  new  object  is  sys- 
temized  and  centered  in  practice  it  is  to  reap  results  the 
glory  of  which  shall  be  the  fulfilling  of  Prophet's 
dreams  in  the  salvation  of  a  world  from  sin  and  helping 
men  to  live. 

In  this  new  time,  what  is  the  office  of  religion? 
Wherein  shall  it  manifest  its  glory  ?  What  are  the  peculiar 
needs  of  the  present,  and  how  are  they  to  be  met? 

A  marked  characteristic  of  this  age  is  its  acquisitive- 
ness. We  want  wealth,  we  want  education,  we  want  social 
standing,  we  want  physical  strength  and  physical  pleasure, 


THE   OLD   AND    THE   NEW.  139 

we  want  personal  beauty  and  adornment.  But  what  for? 
The  evils  in  the  world  which  we  decry  grow  out  of  the 
possession  of  these  things  rather  than  their  absence,  and 
yet  they  are  all  good.  You  remember  that  dirt  is  defined 
as  misplaced  matter.  In  just  the  same  way  I  would  define 
sin  as  misdirected  energy.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that 
we  are  raising  a  generation  of  trained  minds  and  healthy 
bodies;  we  are  certainly,  as  a  people,  getting  rich  and  en- 
joying more  of  the  so-called  good  things  of  life  than  ever 
in  the  history  of  man.  But  what  are  we  going  to  do  with 
these  things?  What  are  we  doing  with  them?  What 
has  our  civilization  achieved?  Look  about  3'ou  and  note 
the  evils  in  the  world,  so  many  that  the  most  optimistic 
must  have  periods  of  pessimism.  Cruelty  of  man  to  man, 
criminal  passion  casting  its  blight  upon  the  fairest  in  life, 
persecutions  and  lynchings,  divorce  smiting  the  very  foun- 
dations of  civilization  in  its  destruction  of  the  home,  drun- 
kenness, impurity,  dishonesty  in  private  and  public  life, 
greed  of  gain  sweeping  men  and  nations  into  wrong.  What 
are  these  things?  In  the  final  analysis  they  are  but  mis- 
directed forces  in  the  individual,  and  there  is  no  hope  of 
change  and  reform  and  improvement  until  the  individual 
is  made  over  new.  Just  as  fast  as  that  is  done  will  the 
evils  cease,  and  no  faster.  You  can  never  build  a  dam 
high  enough  to  confine  a  living  spring;  as  long  as  the 
individual  man  is  bad  he  will  find  a  way  to  defeat  the  law 
which  restrains  him ;  as  long  as  enough  individuals  are 
bad  the  best  law  can  not  be  enforced — ^the  law  even  can  not 
be  enacted. 

What   is   to   be   done?     We   want   all   these   things 
changed,  we  want  the  world  made  new,  we  want  to  bring 


140  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  have  a  world  wherein  love 
and  purity  and  honor  shall  reign,  where  justice  shall  be 
dealt  to  every  man  and  righteousness  be  the  rule  of  con- 
duct. We  all  want  these  things;  every  scheme  of  human 
betterment  has  this  as  its  motive,  and  the  world  is  full  of 
schemes,  and  they  all  fail  because  they  all  begin  at  the 
wrong  end  of  things ;  they  want  the  fruit  without  the  tree ; 
they  want  things  done  without  the  doing  of  them;  they 
would  reform  society  as  a  means  to  the  reformation  of  the 
individual,  overlooking  the  fact  there  can  be  no  perfect 
whole  in  which  the  units  are  imperfect;  that  every  gi-eat 
social  enterprize  has  been  wrecked  by  the  imperfect  indi- 
vidual. All  schemes  have  failed  because  they  left  religion 
out.  And  religion  failed,  too,  at  first  because  it  was  di- 
rected away  from  man,  and  next  because  it  sought  to  change 
him  from  without,  and  only  now  is  it  hopeful  when  it 
seeks  to  change  him  from  within.  Make  the  man  himself 
over  and  he  will  shape  the  conditions  so  that  it  will  be 
easier  for  others  to  be  true. 

Here  is  a  man  with  vast  talent  of  thought;  he  uses 
it  to  entice  men  into  difficulty,  to  seduce  them  from  virtue, 
to  trick  them  out  of  their  possessions.  We  say  that  man 
is  a  sinner  because  he  is  doing  these  things ;  that  is,  he  is 
directing  the  force  of  a  trained  mind  to  evil  instead  of 
good.  What  is  needed  is  not  to  eliminate  thought,  but  to 
make  the  man  over  until  he  will  direct  his  thought  toward 
good.  Here  is  a  man  who  has  the  divine  talent — I  use  the 
term  advisedly — the  divine  talent  for  making  money.  He 
uses  that  talent  to  satisfy  his  greed:  money  makes  him  a 
master,  cruel,  selfish.    Do  not  abolish  the  money  nor  the 


THE   OLD   AND    THE   NEW.  141 

talent,  but  make  the  man  new,  then  will  he  administer  his 
trust  in  righteous  service. 

That  is,  to  the  situation  today,  with  all  its  complexity, 
religion  alone  holds  the  key.  Wealtli,  with  all  its  power, 
is  helpless;  education  alone  is  incompetent,  and  improved 
conditions  are  themselves  an  effect  and  not  a  cause.  Just 
as  in  the  past,  in  every  age,  the  salvation  of  the  world  is 
in  the  hand  of  religion  alone  today,  and  with  the  new  rec- 
ognition of  this  in  every  department  of  life  lies  the  prom- 
ise of  the  coming  revival  which  shall  be  more  glorious  than 
any  which  have  gone  before. 

What  part  are  we  to  have  in  it  ?  If  the  thought  which 
our  fathers  here  inscribed  upon  our  Profession  is  the  heart 
of  the  new  religious  movement,  then  certainly  that  thought 
phall  find  its  greatest  efficiency  through  the  organism  which 
is  its  own  outgrowi:h,  and  it  rests  with  us  of  this  generation 
whether  the  glory  of  achievement  shall  be  ours  or  be  taken 
from  us  and  given  to  others.  The  glory  was  upon  the 
fathers  when  they  laid  down  the  great  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion  which  must  save  the  world  from  sin. 
Our  glory  is  that  we  apply  them  to  the  life  of  today. 

Magnificent  our  opportunity,  sublime  our  responsibil- 
ity. Wlierever  there  is  established  and  sustained  a  church 
dedicated  to  the  propagation  and  application  of  these  prin- 
ciples there  is  set  a  power-house  from  which  is  to  go  forth 
the  motive  of  personal  righteousness,  which  is  the  world's 
great  need  in  every  department  of  its  life. 

We  look  back  across  the  century  and  see  in  memory 
that  gathering  of  heroes  and  saints  who,  in  the  face  of  bit- 
ter opposition,  of  cruel  persecution,  in  the  loneliness  of 
isolation,   amid  the   discouragements  of  small   resources. 


142  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

wrought  righteousness  into  words  which  have  come  down 
to  us,  leading  an  ever  growing  multitude  of  faithful  fol- 
lowers, and  we  see  the  glory  that  sat  upon  them  like  the 
tongues  of  flame  with  which  the  early  disciples  were  bap- 
tised, and  it  remains  for  us,  with  equal  devotion,  with 
equal  heroism,  with  equal  sacrifice,  to  follow  in  their  foot- 
steps that  it  may  be  said  of  us  by  future  generations,  that 
we  wrought  righteousness  into  works  and  won  a  glory 
greater  than  that  of  the  fathers  to  whom  we  today  pay 
tribute  at  this  sacred  altar. 


Exposition  of  Universalism/ 

JAMES     M.    PULLMAN,    D.  D. 
"For   all   things   are   yours;    whether   Paul,   or   Apollos,    or   Cephas,   or 
the  world,   or  life,   or  death,    or  things  present  or  things  to   come:    all   are 
yours,  and  ye  are  Christ's  and  Christ  is  God's." — I   Cor.  iii,  22,  23. 

I  AM  asked  to  make  an  exposition  of  Universalism ; 
to  tell  you  what  that  Universalism  is  which  found  its 
definite  expression  within  the  precincts  of  this  venerable 
church  a  hundred  years  ago. 

Take,  then,  the  name  first.  ("Universalism,  from 
the  Latin  universalis,  of  or  belonging  to,  all  or  the  whole ; 
derivative  of  universus,  all  together,  whole,  entire;  liter- 
ally, turned  into  one;  unm,  one  +  vertere,  versus,  turn.") 

In  theology,  Universalism  is  the  doctrine  that  all 
mankind  will  finally  attain  salvation.  Stated  more  fully, 
the  beliefs  which  constitute  the  doctrine  are:  That  God 
is;  that  his  infinite  power,  wisdom  and  justice  are  modes 
of  his  essential  nature,  which  is  love;  that  he  holds  to 
mankind  the  relations  of  creator  and  father;  that  he  is 
manifested  through  his  works  and  providence;  that  he 
has  disclosed  through  his  highest  creatures  and  especially 
through  Jesus  Christ,  his  character,  will  and  purpose  as 
to  the  duty  and  destiny  of  man;  that  he  is  continually 
working  upon  mankind  through  his  cosmic  and  ethical 
forces,  and  by  the  operation  of  his  Holy  Spirit  of  truth, 
faith,  hope  and  love;  and  that  thus  guided,  disciplined, 
and  inspired,  all  his  children  will  eventually  clear  them- 

'At  the  Winchester  Centennial,   Thursday  afternoon. 
(U3) 


144  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

selves  from  evil  and  achieve  perfected  character,  with  its 
resulting  power,  peace  and  joy,  so  that  a  complete  moral 
harmony  of  the  universe  will  be  attained,  and  God  will  be 
all  in  all. 

Man. — Man  is  not  under  the  wrath  and  curse  of  Grod 
for  the  sins  of  his  ancestors ;  but  he  is  under  the  difficul- 
ties and  dangers  of  inherited  and  acquired  defect  and 
weakness;  that  his  chief  peril,  the  real,  demonstrable 
hell  into  which  he  may  fall  is  degeneration — the  failure  to 
live  up  to  his  organic  capacity;  that  the  evils  which  en- 
mesh him  are,  however,  challenges  of  his  strength;  that 
pain  is  the  great  stimulator  of  his  energy — the  prolonged 
birth-pang  of  his  higher  powers;  and  that  his  agonizing 
conflict  with  evil  is  only  the  fair  price  of  perfected  char- 
acter and  eternal  life. 

Universalism  emphasizes  the  importance  of  faith  in 
man  as  the  highest  organism  of  the  visible  creation  and 
the  chief  visible  work  of  God,  and  it  contributes  to  the 
body  of  Christian  doctrine  this  new  article  of  faith :  "We 
believe  that  man  is  created  in  the  image  of  God,  and  is 
able  to  know  and  to  do  God's  will."  It  is  affirmed  that 
man  is  not  a  fallen  being,  a  worm,  a  slave,  a  wreck,  but  a 
developing  being  who  began  low  down  and  is  on  his  way 
up — not  a  ruin,  but  a  mine,  full  of  latent  riches.  His 
capacities  are  great,  some  of  his  actions  are  sublime;  he 
is  God's  fellow-worker,  cooperator  and  agent.  Through 
him  chiefly  the  divine  purposes  are  wrought  out  on  this 
earth.  God  furnishes  the  arena,  the  organism,  the  ever- 
renewed  inspirations,  but  man  does  the  work,  and  in  doing 
it  he  develops  the  one  vital  thing  that  God  does  not  create, 
namely  —  character.     Universalism    affirms    the   spiritual 


EXPOSITION   OF   UNIJ'ERSALISM.  146 

unity  of  the  race,  and  the  universality  and  ethical  identity 
of  all  God's  revelations  to  man. 

Salvation.— Vnixeraalists  hold  that  moral  develop- 
ment is  not  confined  to  this  state  of  being,  but  is  con- 
tinuous with  the  whole  duration  of  man:  that  salvation 
consists  in  the  formation  of  a  character  conformed  to 
God's  will ;  that  such  character  can  not  be  instantaneously 
acquired,  nor  produced  in  any  other  way  than  by  the 
voluntary  action  of  the  individual ;  that  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments are  not  ends  nor  finalities,  but  aids  to  the  de- 
velopment of  character;  that  God's  love  is  as  clearly 
shown  in  penalty  as  in  reward,  since  by  the  return  of  his 
deeds  upon  his  own  head,  man  is  made  aware  that  there  is 
Somebody  in  the  universe  who  cares  which  way  he  goes; 
that  punishment  is  medicinal  and  corrective;  that  the 
remission  of  the  natural  penalties  of  voluntary  transgres- 
sion would  be  unmerciful;  that  forgiveness  does  not  in- 
volve such  remission,  but  works  a  change  in  the  attitude 
of  the  soul  which  enables  the  transgressor  to  endure  the 
consequences  of  his  sin  in  such  a  way  that  they  will  en- 
noble instead  of  degrade  him. 

Universalism  holds  to  the  conversion  of  all  bad  be- 
ings into  good  beings.  It  discards  the  theory  of  endless 
punishments  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  of  just  punishments, 
which  manifest  a  divine  justice  instead  of  an  undivine 
vengeance.  The  TJniversalist  protest  is  not  against  pun- 
ishment, but  against  the  endless  continuance  of  sin  and 
disobedience — against  everlasting  anarchy  in  God's  uni- 
verse. The  moral  welfare  of  the  universe  requires  that 
every  moral  being  shall  be  brought  into  moral  allegiance. 
Endless  hell  can  no  longer  be  held  essential  to  the  idea  of 


146  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

God's  justice;  in  fact,  it  would  be  a  confession  of  God's 
failure,  as  though  the  Almighty  should  say,  "I  can  not 
cure  your  sin,  but  I  can  torment  you  forever."  Univer- 
salism  holds  that  really  divine  action  must  be  manifested 
by  the  conquering  of  wicked,  not  by  the  futile  torture  of 
the  wicked. 

Universalism  affirms  that  the  revelation  of  the  divine 
character  and  purpose  through  Jesus  Christ  is  the  most 
potent  generator  of  spiritual  and  ethical  energy  in  the 
world;  that  the  chief  function  of  the  church  of  Christ 
is  to  hold  his  ideal  of  life  and  character  before  men 
and  help  them  to  attain  it;  and  that  man  can  not  find 
salvation  by  withdrawing  from  the  sphere  of  life's  ap- 
pointed duties  and  activities,  but  that  the  great  school 
of  moral  discipline  and  spiritual  culture  is  to  be  found 
in  the  common  personal  relationships  and  ordinary  pur- 
suits of  life. 

The  Bible. — The  Universalist  Profession  of  Faith, 
adopted  a  century  ago  in  this  house,  says:  "We  believe 
that  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
contain  a  revelation  of  the  character  of  God,  and  of  the 
duty,  interest  and  final  destination  of  mankind," 

It  is  held  that  the  moral  and  spiritual  content  of 
the  Bible  constitute  a  progressive  revelation  adapted  to 
the  successive  changes  of  man's  development;  that  since 
a  revelation  must  necessarily  be  intelligible  to  those  to 
whom  it  is  addressed,  the  Bible  must  be  interpreted  ac- 
cording to  the  present  canons  of  historical  criticism, 
and  in  the  terms  of  man's  present  understanding  and 
conscience;  that  it  contains  a  record  of  man's  spiritual 
experience  and  moral  growth  through  many  ages  under 


EXPOSITION   OF   UNIVERSALISM.  147 

the  tuition  of  God's  spirit,  and  that  it  stands  pre-eminent 
in  its  power  of  communicating  moral  energy  to  the  strug- 
gling souls  of  men. 

Methods. — It  is  held  that  all  moral  transformation 
and  growth  is  from  within  outward;  that  the  incarnation 
of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  is  representative  of  the  method 
of  the  coming  in  of  God's  spirit  in  all  men;  that  every 
soul  is  capable  of  receiving  that  spirit;  that  the  entrance 
of  the  divine  life  into  humanity  is  not  an  exceptional, 
official  or  magical  act,  but  a  process  whose  laws  can  be 
discovered  and  obeyed;  that  repentance  of  sin,  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  obedience  to  the  Christ,  the  service  of  men, 
the  diligent  discharge  of  duty,  and  the  honoring  of  the 
common  relationships  of  life,  are  all  channels  through 
Avhich  the  soul  may  receive,  in  ever  increasing  measure, 
that  divine  energy  which  lifts  it  out  of  the  power  of 
sin  and  sorrow  and  forwards  it  on  the  way  to  per- 
fection. 

The  Resurrection  and  the  Future  Life. — It  is  held 
that  the  resurrection  is  experienced  by  each  soul  when,  at 
the  dissolution  of  the  body,  it  enters  upon  a  new  order 
of  existence.  It  is  not  conceived  that  death  works  any 
moral  transformation,  but  that  the  soul  enters  the  next 
state  with  the  spiritual  character  which  it  has  achieved 
on  earth.  It  is  believed  that  in  the  future  life  all  the 
opportunities  for  the  further  growth  which  the  powers 
of  the  soul  open  to  it  will  be  accorded;  that  it  vrill  be 
there  under  the  ministry  of  truth  and  love  until  truth 
and  love  have  wrought  within  and  upon  it  their  perfect 
work. 

Now,  this  is  theolog}^ — an  attempt  to  set  forth  the 


148  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

vital  relations  between  God  and  man  in  the  terms  of  our 
present  human  understanding. 

But  it  is  not  the  whole  of  Universalism.  Universal- 
ism  is  much  more  than  a  theology.  It  is  a  faith,  founded, 
as  every  vital  faith  must  be,  upon  both  understanding 
and  feeling.  The  heart  is  greater  than  the  understand- 
ing, and  man  can  wholly  feel  what  he  can  not  clearly 
see. 

Universalism  as  a  faith  is  Just  universalized  Chris- 
tianity, a  strict  development  of  Christianity  out  of  its 
special  into  its  universal  form — the  central  teaching  of 
Jesus  taken  out  from  under  provincial  and  encumbering 
accretions  and  tuned  to  a  universal  faith. 

The  Universalist  faith  is  absolute  belief  in  an  ade- 
quate God  who  is  able  to  conduct  his  universe  to  the 
goal  of  his  desires  without  inflicting  an  eternal  catas- 
trophe upon  any  of  his  creatures. 

The  Universalist  faith  is  belief  in  man  as  an  im- 
proving and  improvable  creature  who  is  capable  under 
God  of  reaching  the  highest  goal.  He  was  set  naked 
on  this  earth,  but  he  adapts  himself,  thinks  and  grows; 
he  learns  to  subdue  nature  to  his  uses,  he  founds  the 
family,  builds  the  home  and  the  school,  the  factory  and 
the  temple;  he  organizes  the  commonwealth  and  tries 
to  make  it  a  kingdom  of  God,  founded  in  justice  and  love 
and  crowned  with  power  and  glory.  In  all  this  man  is 
God's  fellow-worker,  inspired  by  his  spirit. 

Universalists  believe  in  this  earth  as  God's  work- 
shop, where  God  and  man  work  together  for  the  produc- 
tion and  adornment  of  human  character,  which  is  the 
chief  end  of  man.     Universalists  believe   in   other  and 


EXPOSITION  OF   UNIVERSALISM.  149 

higher  worlds  than  this,  where  the  process  of  making 
the  perfect  man  is  carried  forward  to  completion.  Uni- 
versalism  is  faith  in  the  success  of  God,  the  sure  triumph 
of  his  righteousness  and  tlie  eternal  reign  of  his  love. 

Our  fathers,  one  hundred  years  ago,  saw  the  great 
truth  clearly,  and  wrought  toward  it.  But  they  saw 
not  all  of  its  implications.  We,  after  the  lapse  of  a  hun- 
dred years,  see  the  same  great  truth,  but  are  helped  to 
a  larger  view  of  its  relations  and  meanings.  And  as 
we  stand  on  the  high  tower  of  which  the  fathers  laid 
the  foundations,  and  look  forward  and  outward  from  this 
little  planet  where  we  temporarily  dwell,  the  largest 
thought  that  meets  us  on  the  threshold  of  the  twentieth 
Christian  century  is  that  the  constitution  of  the  whole 
living  universe  is  a  pure  theism  under  the  adequate  God 
whom  we  love  and  serve,  and  that  its  form  of  activity 
is  cooperative.  Other  worlds  than  ours  are  alive  with 
intelligences;  new  worlds  are  in  process  of  formation. 
]\Ian  is  an  active  worker  and  sharer  in  a  vastly  more  ex- 
tended system  of  cosmic  action  than  he  can  at  present 
comprehend.  Our  multitudinously  populated  planet  is, 
after  all,  only  a  suburb  of  the  great  city  of  God. 

And  our  chief  product  is  mind.  The  order  of  nature 
in  which  we  live  is,  first  of  all,  a  mind  factory — a  ma- 
chine for  transmuting  matter  into  mind  by  means  both 
of  the  brute  and  human  organisms.  And  we  export 
every  year,  through  what  we  call  death,  about  thirty-five 
millions  of  minds,  in  germ  and  in  all  stages  of  develop- 
ment, to  the  other  worlds  of  the  universe.  Our  works 
and  ways  thus  run  out  into  the  cosmos  and  we  are  coop- 
erating; with  the  whole. 


150  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

The  moral  product  of  our  globe  is  character.  Wliat 
we  call  evolution  is  the  upward  thrust  of  nature  for 
higher  and  finer  organisms.  When  nature  has  achieved 
an  organism  fine  enough  to  support  a  self-conscious  mind, 
the  thrust  from  beneath  ceases  and  an  induction  from 
above  begins  for  the  purpose  of  molding  mind  into  char- 
acter. 

There  is  no  doubt  that,  as  Tennyson  said: 

"Through  the  ages  one  increasing  purpose  runs," 

— and  that  purpose  is  the  making  of  man. 

The  whole  austere  and  splendid  order  of  the  uni- 
verse waits  upon  this  mighty  purpose.  For  this  the 
foundations  of  the  earth  were  laid  and  the  ages  were 
framed.  For  tliis  the  fleeting  generations  come  and  go; 
and  the  stream  of  human  life  and  the  storm  of  human 
action  have  their  chief  significance  in  the  fact  that  in 
this  roaring  loom  of  time  human  character  is  being 
woven. 

Nor  does  this  vast  purpose  of  God  show  any  signs 
of  weakness  or  decadency,  nor  is  human  nature  in  its 
senility,  but  rather  in  its  juvenility.  The  animal  man 
and  the  semi-animal  man  have  been  here  a  good  while, 
but  man  the  conscious  son  of  God,  with  the  power  and 
disposition  to  enter  into  his  heritage  is  young  yet  upon 
the  earth. 


The  Spiritual  Side  of  Universalism/ 

ISAAC.  M.  ATWOOD,  D.  D. 

There  are  two  sides  to  every  question.  To  some 
there  are  more.  Few  subjects  or  objects  are  equally  at- 
tractive on  all  sides.  It  is,  however,  one  of  the  acquire- 
ments of  growing  knowledge  and  wisdom  to  discern  the 
utility  and  beauty — for  utility  is  beauty — of  those  aspects 
of  nature  and  life  that  appear,  at  first  sight,  "less  hon- 
orable." 

Universalism  is  polygonal.  It  stands  not  only  four- 
square to  all  the  world,  but,  more  firmly  and  symmetrically 
still,  it  presents  the  grace  of  a  hexagon.  One  God,  the 
Father ;  one  humanity,  the  brotherhood ;  one  Mediator  or 
way  between,  the  one  God  and  the  one  humanity;  one 
law  of  life,  righteousness;  one  motive  force,  love;  one 
destiny,  immortality. 

Or,  viewing  it  practically  and  institutionally,  Uni- 
versalism is  still  six-sided.  It  presents  its  historic  side, 
its  organic  side,  its  social  side,  its  financial  side,  its  educa- 
tional side,  its  missionary  side. 

The  framer  of  my  topic  seems  to  have  regarded  it  as 
having  a  theological  or  doctrinal  and  a  spiritual  ?ide.  I  am 
to  speak  of  the  latter.  But  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
notice  in  passing  that  the  theology  of  Universalism  has 
a  spiritual  side.  The  distinctive  affirmation  of  Univer- 
salist  theology  is  the  final  salvation  of  all  souls.     And 

^Address  by  the  General  Superintendent  on  Wednesday  evening  at  the 
opening  service  of  the  Winchester  Centennial. 

(151) 


162  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

this  affirmation  is  due  to  the  discovery  of  a  spiritual  fact. 
Without  that  discovery  there  could  be  no  such  conclusion 
as  the  final  salvation  of  all  souls.  The  spiritual  fact  on 
which  the  conclusion  of  Universalism  rests  is  the  natural 
supremacy  of  truth,  right  and  goodness.  Eev.  E.  J.  Camp- 
bell, of  London,  says  he  finds  Universalism  to  be  a  neces- 
sary corollary  of  the  Gospel.  And  he  is  right.  For  the 
Gospel  is  the  discovery  and  announcement  of  that  spir- 
itual fact  I  have  just  stated — the  supremacy  of  truth, 
right,  goodness,  or,  in  other  words,  of  God.  That  is  the 
Gospel.  He  who  accepts  the  Gospel  accepts  many  other 
things  besides  Universalism;  but  he  necessarily  and  log- 
ically takes  Universalism  if  he  takes  the  Gospel.  The 
whole  includes  the  parts. 

Let  me  add  that  no  greater  discovery  than  this 
which  I  have  named  has  been  made  in  our  time  or  in 
any  time.  No  greater  discovery  can  be  made.  It  is  either 
the  fact  or  it  is  not  the  fact.  If  it  is  not  the  fact  that 
these  forces — right,  truth,  goodness,  God — are,  in  the  con- 
stitution of  things  and  in  the  plan  of  the  ages,  supreme, 
then  they  are  subordinate,  and  some  other  forces  are 
greater.  And  if  this  be  so,  we  do  not  any  of  us  know 
where  we  are  or  whither  we  tend.  Not  a  single  soul  on 
the  planet  tonight  can  make  any  trustworthy  conclusions 
for  the  future  if  these  forces  are  subordinate  to  some 
other  and  greater  forces.  But  they  are  not  subordinate; 
they  are  supreme.  My  friends,  the  greatest  discoveries  of 
the  ages  have  consisted  in  the  identification  of  the  powers 
that  really  rule  the  world.  To  write  these  in  the  place 
where  they  belong  in  the  book  of  mankind  as  they  are 
already  written  in  the  book  of  God,  is  to  make  progress. 


SPIRITUAL   SIDE   OF    UNIVERSALISM.  153 

All  other  movements  are  delusive.  This  only  is  civiliza- 
tion and  salvation.  And  so  I  affirm  that  the  discovery 
of  the  great  spiritual  fact  of  the  supreme  potency  of 
righteousness  and  love  in  the  mind  of  God  and  in  his 
universe  puts  underneath  all  other  facts  and  forces  the 
power  that  works  in  and  through  all  to  bring  all  to  their 
final  spiritual  consummation. 

Now,  Universalism,  I  think  it  is  not  extravagant  to 
say,  has  the  great  merit  of  being  a  spiritual  religion.  If 
you  have  ever  stopped  to  think  of  it,  it  must  have  struck 
you  as  strange  that  all  the  great  religions  of  mankind 
have  been  much  encumbered  with  material  and  secular 
interests.  If  we  go  to  the  places  where  these  religions 
have  their  sources  and  shrines — to  ancient  or  to  modern 
Eome,  to  Jerusalem,  to  Constantinople,  to  Mecca,  to  Cal- 
cutta, to  Salt  Lake,  to  Zion,  to  Boston  or  Concord,  we 
are  impressed  first  and  most  with  their  worldly  acquisi- 
tions and  splendors.  They  appear  to  be  emulating  and 
repeating  the  pomps  of  this  vain  world.  What  the  world- 
empires  have  amassed,  what  the  cities  have  achieved,  these 
are  what  you  see  represented  in  the  creations  and  symbols 
and  visible  ambitions  of  these  great  religions.  These  ma- 
terial and  secular  features  have  been  so  emphasized  in 
the  history  of  religion  that  the  heaven  which  is  looked 
forward  to  by  a  majority  of  mankind  is  only  a  slightly 
improved  Jerusalem  or  Constantinople,  a  city  teeming 
with  the  very  delights  all  go  to  the  capitals  of  the  world 
to  enjoy.  A  spiritual  meaning  may  be  found  and  a  spir- 
itual purpose  discerned.  But  to  the  eye  and  ear,  to  which 
they  are  mainly  addressed,  they  are  as  secular  and  profane 
as  the  market-place  and  the  casino. 


154  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

When  we  look  into  the  theologies  of  these  religions 
the  case  is  not  much  improved.  Analyze  the  principles 
proclaimed  and  the  motives  appealed  to,  and  what  have 
we?  To  escape  from  physical  pains  and  infirmities, 'to  be 
lapped  in  physical  comfort  and  peace — this  has  been  the 
prevailing  lure,  the  dominant  aim.  Talk  about  the  mate- 
rialism of  this  age!  Have  we  not  had  crass  materialism 
in  every  age  ?  And  scarcely  more  in  the  camp,  the  forum, 
the  exchange,  or  the  laboratory,  than  in  the  sanctuaries 
of  religion  itself? 

Now  Universalism  sweeps  awa}^,  one  might  almost 
say  at  one  fell  swoop,  this  whole  sensuous  and  material- 
istic fabric  that  has  been  superimposed  on  the  spirit  of 
man.  In  the  first  place  nearly  all  the  superstitions  have 
gone  at  one  blow.  The  devil  troops  to  the  infernal  Jail. 
The  fires  of  hell  are  extinguished.  A  substitutional  and 
physical  sacrifice  disappears.  God  is  not  to  be  propitiated, 
but  served  and  loved  and  enjoyed.  Religion  is  not  a 
scheme  of  rescue,  but  daily  manna  from  heaven.  All 
worlds  are  God's  worlds,  and  "life  and  death  His  mercy 
imderlies." 

I  am  not  claiming  that  this  has  occurred  alone  in 
the  TJniversalist  communion.  Nor  that  we  have  done  it 
without  help  from  many  sources.  I  am  told  that  the 
Devil  has  gone  out  of  commission  and  hell  has  become  an 
obsolete  institution  in  nearly  all  the  churches.  I  know 
well  that  the  old  religious  prepossessions  can  not  survive 
in  the  light  that  shines  around  us  in  this  day.  Science 
has  opened  a  Northwest  passage  and  let  the  Northeast 
gales  blow  through,  sweeping  the  track  of  human  thought 
and  belief  clean  of  the  dust  of  ages.    Thank  God  for  the 


SPIRITUAL   SIDE   OF   UNIVERSALISM.  155 

winds,  the  New  England  winds !  They  are  purifying  and 
regenerating,  and  they  have  blown  through  the  four  quar- 
ters of  the  world.  But  what  I  do  claim  is  that  we  began 
it.  This  is  our  reformation.  We  said  it  before  anyone 
else,  in  church  or  state  or  press  or  lyceum,  had  found  a 
tongue.  Here  on  this  historic  spot  I  ask  you  to  remem- 
ber that  Universalists  a  hundred  years  ago  formulated  a 
Profession  and  announced  doctrines  that  nothing  which 
science  has  since  disclosed,  in  any  department,  or  that 
human  thought  has  evolved  and  sustained  by  solid  proofs, 
has  shaken  or  undermined  or  even  antagonized.  And  I 
can  think  of  nothing  that  is  likely  to  disturb  our  declara- 
tion in  the  next  hundred  years. 

For  what  do  we  mean  by  Universalism  ?  It  is  not 
like  a  tent  spread  out  here  on  the  green  in  Summer  that 
must  be  folded  when  Winter  appears.  We  mean  a  prin- 
ciple good  for  all  seasons,  in  all  weathers.  Tried  by  this 
test  I  find: 

1.  The  ethical  basis  of  Universalism  sound  and 
immovable,  because  it  is  spiritual.  What  is  the  ethical 
basis  of  Universalism?  It  is  a  spiritual  basis.  That  is, 
we  are  not  to  do  justly  and  love  mercy  and  walk  humbly 
with  our  God,  because  it  pays,  or  because  it  has  become 
the  fashion,  or  because  we  want  to  stand  in  with  the 
administration  and  have  our  share  when  the  plums  are 
distributed;  nor  because  we  think  we  are  under  a  curse 
which  only  that  course  of  conduct  will  lift  from  us.  If 
we  are  doing  justly  and  loving  mercy  or  walking  humbly 
with  God,  for  any  such  reasons,  or  are  imagining  that  we 
do,  we  shall  cease  just  as  soon  as  we  discover  that  being 
religious  does  not  bring  these  rewards.     What  we  were 


156  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

really  after  was  the  main  cliance.  We  were  using  religion 
as  a  means  of  attaining  our  personal  ends.  And  the  bot- 
tom drops  out  when  it  is  discovered  that  such  ends  are 
not  thus  reached.  For  this  unsound  ethical  basis  Univer- 
salism  substitutes  the  sound  and  durable  one,  viz.,  that 
we  are  to  do  justly  and  love  mercy  and  walk  humbly  with 
our  God  because  that  is  the  plan  of  our  nature,  the  way 
we  were  made  to  go,  and  the  only  way  of  life  and  peace 
for  a  human  soul  at  any  time  or  in.  any  world.  The  law 
is  one,  the  way  is  one.  There  can  be  no  exceptions.  Here 
as  everywhere  the  spiritual  is  the  eternal. 

Tried  by  the  same  test  I  find : 

2.  The  theological  or  religious  basis  of  Universal- 
ism  to  be  equally  solid  and  equally  spiritual.  Solid  be- 
cause it  is  spiritual. 

Our  religious  basis  is  the  harmony  of  all  souls  with 
God.  We  say  the  harmonization  of  one  soul  with  God  is 
important;  of  two  more  important;  of  twenty  still  more 
important,  and  ever  in  ascending  ratio.  There  is  no  place 
to  stop  the  process.  For  we  say,  again,  it  has  been  dem- 
onstrated by  observation  and  experience  and  proved  by  the 
science  of  harmony,  that  if  you  halted  the  process  any- 
where you  could  never  procure  the  harmonization  of  the 
first  soul  with  God.  To  get  the  harmony  of  one  you  must 
seek  the  symphony  of  all.  In  the  plan  of  God  all  souls 
are  bound  in  one  sheaf.  And  if  any  one  would  be  saved 
he  must  bring  another  soul  with  him.  There  is  no  private 
salvation.  We  may  even  wax  bold  and  declare  as  the 
inevitable  and  invincible  logic  of  the  spiritual  situation, 
we  are  all  to  be  saved  or  all  to  be  damned. 

Now  I  affirm  that  this  is  a  spiritual  basis  because  the 


SPIRITUAL   SIDE   OF    UNIVERSALISM.  157 

harmonization  of  the  soul  with  God  is  a  spiritual  attain- 
ment. How  are  we  harmonized  with  God?  Some  illu- 
sions are  indulged  on  this  point.  I  speak  here  for  myself 
and  probably  for  most  of  my  brethren.  There  is  a  notion 
that  Universalism  teaches  that  we  may  be  in  harmony 
with  God  without  being  in  harmony  with  him !  Nay ; 
not  so.  A  soul  is  in  harmony  with  God  when  it  comes  to 
think  as  God  thinks,  will  as  God  wills,  love  as  God  loves, 
and  as  a  sequel  act  as  God  acts.  And  this  is  the  very 
essence  of  spiritual  religion.  It  will  be  the  same  a  hun- 
dred, or  a  thousand,  or  ten  thousand  years  hence. 

We  say  in  our  revised  creed — you  will  notice  there  is 
the  same  refrain  in  the  new  as  in  the  old  Profession — 
We  believe  in  the  final  harmony  of  all  souls  with  God.  I 
have  been  moved  sometimes  to  strike  out  the  word  "final" 
and  say,  We  believe  in  the  harmony  of  all  souls  with  God. 
I  am  impressed  that  a  fallacy  lurks  in  that  word  "final" 
for  many  of  us.  It  is  a  soporific.  People  may  swallow  a 
great  dose  of  that  "final"  and  say  to  themselves,  "Well 
it  is  coming  out  all  right;  let  us  buy  and  sell  and  get 
gain,  and  not  worry  about  the  issue."  What  I  wish  to 
have  squarely  faced  here  is  the  fact  that  we  believe  in  the 
harmony  of  all  souls  with  God,  irrespective  of  that  word 
final.  What  we  are  after  is  the  harmony,  not  the  final 
harmony.  Suppose  a  man  should  say,  "I  believe  in  final 
prohibition."  Every  man  who  believes  in  prohibition  at 
all  believes  in  present  prohibition.  Where  is  the  man  who 
believes  in  final  education?  or  final  health?  or  final  jus- 
tice? We  believe  in  education,  in  health,  in  justice,  and 
all  their  associated  verities  and  blessings,  not  in  fin^l 
health  and  truth  and  right  and  good.  Let  us  beware  of 
being  tricked  by  a  word. 


158  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

I  have  interpreted  Universalism  here  as  a  program 
of  ethical  and  spiritual  harmony.  Suffer  me  to  say  that 
this  universe  is,  at  bottom,  a  spiritual  universe.  And  the 
true  account  of  man  is  that  he  is  a  spiritual  man.  The 
office  of  religion  is  to  bring  this  spiritual  man  into  har- 
mony with  his  spiritual  environment  and  so  make  him 
conscious  of  being  at  home  anywhere  in  the  universe  of 
God. 

The  advantage  of  a  spiritual  religion  is  that  in  its 
foundations  and  essential  principles  it  is  unchanging. 
The  principles  of  true  religion,  like  true  geometry,  do  not 
change.  They  are  grounded  in  the  eternal  nature  of  God 
and  the  spiritual  world.  This  is  not  to  say  that  it  does 
not  change  its  methods,  or  that  its  followers  do  not 
change.  You  have  set  up  and  dedicated  here  tonight  a 
new  organ.  Everything  in  it  and  about  it  is  new;  but 
the  principles  of  harmony,  conformity  to  which  make  this 
instrument  an  organ,  are  as  old  as  creation.  There  are 
discoveries  going  on  all  the  time  in  the  realm  of  nature, 
but  there  is  no  new  nature.  It  is  worth  while  to  remem- 
ber this.  We  Universalists  must  not  think  we  have  made 
a  religion.  We  have  simply  discovered  the  religion  God 
made  before  the  foundation  of  the  world.  We  have  done 
much  to  drive  darkness  and  superstition  from  the  reli- 
gious world  and  set  free  the  souls  of  our  fellows.  Some- 
times I  feel  that  we  rather  overdo  this  pursuit,  chasing 
the  shadows  and  forgetting  the  souls  that  want  not  only 
a  cleared  atmosphere  but  bread  from  heaven.  In  this  we 
are  not  unlike  the  fastidious  housekeeper,  so  intent  on 
banishing  that  last  fly  that  she  forgets  she  has  friends,  a 
husband  and  sweet  children,  whose  love  and  companion- 


SPIRITUAL  SIDE   OF   UNIVERSALISM.  159 

ship  are  worth  more  to  her  than  spotless  linen  and  dust- 
less  furniture;  and  that  friends  and  husband  and  chil- 
dren live  more  on  hope  and  joy  and  freedom  than  on  the 
daintiest  dish  her  artistic  fingers  ever  dressed.  It  is  well 
to  put  superstition  to  rout:  it  is  better  to  put  harmony 
into  life  and  gladness  into  the  world.  So  I  am  a  little 
tried  in  these  days  when  I  hear  a  man  laboring  with  much 
energy  to  prove  that  all  will  be  finally  saved,  and  stopping 
just  there,  without  so  much  as  a  hint  how  to  save  men. 
I  would  rather  he  took  the  final  for  granted  and  went 
about  the  business  of  saving. 

It  is  plain  to  me,  my  brethren  and  friends,  that  our 
religion  exhibits  all  the  marks  of  a  religion  that  has 
come  to  stay.  It  will  be  here  tomorrow,  and  the  day 
after.  It  may  pass  through  changes  of  method,  adminis- 
tration, purpose  and  spirit,  but  its  spiritual  bases  are 
eternal.  In  the  light  that  shines  around  us  so  beneficiently 
on  these  hills  and  in  these  valleys,  where  the  great  Artist 
is  making  daily  changes  in  his  decorations,  each  more 
glorious  than  the  last,  but  is  introducing  no  new  forces 
or  principles,  we  may  learn  how,  by  fidelity  to  what  our 
fathers  held,  those  Divine  transformations  in  which  they 
and  we  alike  believe,  shall  go  on  "till  we  all  attain  to  full- 
grown  men,  to  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness 
of  Christ." 


The  Story  of  God's  Love.' 

WILLARD  C.    SELLECK,   D.  D. 

We  are  gathered  here  this  morning  for  a  simple 
service  of  reverent,  joyous  worship.  The  place  is  more 
sacred  to  me  than  it  can  be  to  some  others,  because  it 
was  here  that  I  began  to  work  out  my  own  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling.  The  temptation  is  strong  for 
me  to  indulge  in  reminiscences,  but  these  would  be  some- 
what personal,  and  I  may  not  properly  thrust  my  personal 
experiences  upon  your  attention.  Let  me  rather  try  to 
express  in  a  few  words  my  conception  of  the  spiritual 
significance  of  this  occasion. 

When  Ealph  Waldo  Emerson  purchased  his  farm  in 
Concord  he  said  he  obtained  more  than  those  who  sold 
it  supposed  they  were  conveying  to  him,  for  he  acquired 
possession  not  only  of  the  land  and  buildings,  but  also 
of  the  landscape,  the  beauty  of  the  flowers,  the  glory  of 
the  sky,  the  songs  of  the  birds,  and  the  enchanting  inter- 
est of  the  manifold  forms  of  life  around  him.  All  these 
were  there  before,  but  they  waited  for  someone  to  recog- 
nize and  appreciate  them.  So  it  has  been  with  the  love  of 
God  and  with  his  children  in  this  world.  God  has  always 
been  the  Father  of  the  children  of  men,  and  has  loved 
them  with  an  infinite  love,  but  they  have  not  always 
known  or  appreciated  this  blessed  truth.  It  is  compara- 
tively easy  for  you  and  me,  looking  out  upon  the  mar- 


lAddress    at    the     Conference-meeting    of   the    Winchester   Centennial, 

Thursday  morning. 

(160) 


STORY   OF   GOD'S  LOVE.  161 

vellous  beauty  of  the  world  this  morning,  seeing  these 
Burroimding  hills  hung  with  their  many-colored  and  rich 
tapestries,  and  the  sunshine  of  heaven  flooding  the  earth 
with  matchless  glory,  to  believe  that  "God  is  love";  it 
seems  to  us  that  the  story  of  his  love  is  written  all  over 
the  face  of  nature;  and  we  can  sympathize  with  Whit- 
tier's  verse: 

*"We  lack  but  open  eye  and  ear 

To  find  the  Orient's  marvels  here — 
The  still,  small  voice  in  evening's  hush, 
Yon  maple  wood  the  burning  bush." 

But  God  waited  through  long  ages  for  his  children 
to  come  to  read  this  story.  He  had  loved  the  world  from 
the  beginning  of  creation,  and  had  begotten  the  human 
family  in  love;  but  it  was  not  until  Jesus  Christ  came 
that  his  love  was  recognized  and  fully  appreciated.  And 
the  greatness  of  Jesus  Christ  lies  somehow  just  in  this, 
that  he  had  insight  to  see  this  glorious  truth  and  was 
able  to  show  men  the  infallible  love  of  God. 

But  then  it  came  to  pass  that  his  interpretation  of 
nature  and  of  God's  providence  was  lost  in  a  large  degree, 
and  other  weary  centuries  had  to  elapse  before  the  divine 
lang-uage  could  be  read  anew  and  understood  aright. 
Then  came  John  Murray  and  Hosea  Ballou,  and  their 
Universalist  compeers,  who  saw  the^truth  in  the  Bible 
and  in  nature,  and  declared  it  afresh — who  recognized  the 
truth  as  it  was  in  Jesus,  i.  e.,  who  understood  the  teaching 
of  Jesus  Christ.  Dr.  Coyle  said  a  few  years  ago  that  the 
great  discovery  of  the  present  age  is  Jesus  Christ — not 
electricity,  not  evolution,  but  Jesus  Christ;  by  which  is 
meant  the  discovery  that  God  is  Christ-like,  "the  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus   Christ."     Well,  this  is  precisely  the 


162  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

discovery  which  our  Universalist  fathers  made — that  God 
is  like  Jesus  Christ,  and  not  inferior  to  him  in  moral 
character;  and  wrapped  up  within  that  discovery  lies  the 
whole  new  theology  of  our  time. 

It  makes  me  think  of  an  illustration.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  was  discovered,  in 
lower  Egypt,  the  now  famous  Eossetta  stone,  upon  which 
there  was  an  inscription  in  Coptic,  in  Greek  and  in  Egyp- 
tian hieroglyphic.  For  a  long  time  nobody  knew  the 
meaning  thereof,  but  at  length  Champollion  and  other 
scholars  succeeded  in  deciphering  the  tri-lingual  inscrip- 
tion, when,  lo !  the  key  was  found  which  unlocked  the 
vast  treasure-houses  of  Egyptian  history  and  literature! 
The  stone,  with  its  language,  the  history  and  the  litera- 
ture lying  behind  it,  had  waited  for  centuries  for  some- 
one to  read  the  strange  characters  and  their  wonderful 
story.  So  God  had  written  the  language  of  his  love 
over  all  the  world,  and  in  the  Bible,  and  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ,  but  had  been  obliged  to  wait  until  the 
nineteenth  century  for  men  to  decipher  and  understand 
it.  Now,  behold!  we  all  can  read  and  know  the  love 
which  God  hath  to  us;  for  God  is  love.  Now  we  know 
that  we  are  the  children  of  God,  and  are  living  in  our 
Father's  house;  for  tliis  world  is  part  of  our  Father's 
house — and  it  is  not  '^a  haunted  house,"  but  it  is  our 
own  dear  home,  with  the  loving  care  of  God  over  it  and 
within  it. 

Surely,  then,  we  have  occasion  abundantly  to  rejoice 
today  in  the  faith  that  inspires  our  hearts  and  in  the 
beauty  of  the  world  which  is  our  temporary  home.  "This 
is  the  victory  that  overcometh  the  world,  even  our 
faith." 


STORY  OF  GOD'S  LOVE.  163 

But  we  need  to  remember  that  it  is  one  thing  to  get 
our  faith  stated,  and  another  thing  to  get  it  lived.  The 
faith  that  shall  really  overcome  the  world  for  ourselves 
is  the  faith  that  lives  in  the  heart — not  merely  the  state- 
ment which  we  put  upon  parchment,  or  print  in  books,  or 
inscribe  over  the  doors  of  our  churches,  but  rather  the 
faith  whose  spirit  lives  as  a  divine  power  in  the  soul. 
And  the  great  task  before  us  now  is  to  make  our  faith 
such  an  inward,  vital,  spiritual  power,  and  then  to  live 
it  out  amid  all  the  practical  relations  of  life.  It  will 
make  us  see  how  bad  a  thing  is  sin,  and  will  win  us  away 
from  all  evil,  and  will  prompt  us  to  spend  and  be  spent 
in  the  service  of  our  fellow-men  in  order  to  help  bring 
them  into  "the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God." 


The  Genius  of  Universalism/ 

PRESIDENT    C.    ELLWOOD    NASH,    S.  T.  D. 
Text:  "Shew  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth  us."     John  xiv:  8. 

This  appeal  of  Philip,  approved  by  the  Master's  ac- 
quiescence, may  be  taken  for  the  voice  of  aspiring  human- 
ity. My  proposition  is  that  the  Universalist  Church  has 
been  called  into  being  to  make  this  disclosure,  and  that 
the  full  accomplishment  of  this  mission  will  suffice  for  the 
religious  needs  of  mankind. 

Universalism  is  not  a  discovery,  but  a  revelation;  not 
a  logically  elaborated  conclusion,  but  an  insight.  Its 
founders  were  seers,  not  scholars.  They  were  familiar 
with  their  Bibles,  but  read  them  with  the  expectant  eye 
of  spiritual  aspiration  rather  than  the  critical  view  of 
the  exegete.  Accordingly  the  genius  of  Universalism  is 
intuitive  rather  than  critical,  philosophical  or  scholastic. 
It  is  spiritual  rather  than  intellectual.  It  is  founded  upon 
certain  elemental  instincts  of  human  nature  rather  than 
upon  research  and  erudition. 

This  does  not  mean  that  there  is  anything  in  it 
opposed  to  sound  reason  or  unfriendly  to  learning.  On 
the  contrary,  these  are  recognized  and  utilized  as  inter- 
pretative and  corroborative  aids. 

So  radical  a  thesis  needs  some  justification.  I  find 
it  first  in  the  nature  of  the  faith  itself.  It  seems'  to  me 
that  Universalism  is  a  trust  rather  than  tenet;  a  mood 


^Occasional    Sermon,    at    the    General    Convention,    Washington,    D.    C, 
Sunday    morning,    October    25,    1903. 

(164) 


THE   GENIUS   OF    UNIVERSALISM.  165 

more  than  a  formula;  and  as  to  its  form  it  is  a  simple 
affirmation,  not  a  complex  dogma. 

Primarily  Universalism  is  a  doctrine  of  salvation — 
originally  of  eschatology  alone.  Perceiving  that  nothing 
but  a  happy  outlook  for  mankind  would  satisfy  the  re- 
flective mind  or  the  generous  heart,  the  fathers  leaped 
at  once  to  the  great  conclusion  of  a  united  and  holy  des- 
tiny. Later  they  read  back  to  the  premises  upon  which 
that  conclusion  can  properly  be  based,  and  found  them, 
first,  in  the  purpose  of  a  Divine  Sovereign,  next  in  love 
as  the  essential  quality  of  the  Divine  nature,  then  in  the 
universal  Fatherhood,  then  in  the  universal  brotherhood, 
and  finally  in  the  universality  of  moral  law  and  the 
omnipotence  of  right  and  truth. 

That  all  these  were  rather  perceived  than  argued, 
and  rested  upon  something  temperamental  in  the  mind 
itself  rather  than  upon  formal  proofs,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  (which  can  hardly  be  doubted)  that  no 
scripture  or  science  or  philosophy  which  could  now  be 
affirmed,  short  of  unsettling  faith  in  God  Himself,  could 
destroy  the  optimism  we  feel. 

The  framers  of  tlie  Winchester  Profession  of  Belief 
were  careful  to  avoid  the  complexities  of  a  merely  meta- 
physical theology.  It  may  not  have  been  generally  re- 
marked that  the  word  "character"  in  the  first  article  and 
the  word  "love"  in  the  second  are  terms  applicable,  not 
to  the  fundamental  essence  of  Divine  being,  so  much  as 
to  its  disposition.  That  is,  the  articles  speak  of  the  Di- 
vine nature  solely  as  to  its  bearing  upon  the  well-being 
of  humanity,  and  as  guaranteeing  that  well-being. 

And  what  is  even  more  to  our  present  purpose,  it  must 


166  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

be  conceded  that  to  this  day  we  have  in  the  proper  sense 
no  systematic  theology.  It  may  be  that  individuals  among 
US  have  wrought  out  a  system  satisfactory  to  themselves; 
if  so  they  have  been  careful  to  conceal  their  labors  from 
the  church.  Certain  it  is  that  the  church  itself  has  adopted 
no  standards  and  reached  no  verdict  concerning  very 
many  of  the  items  which  must  be  treated  in  a  complete 
view  of  the  content  of  systematic  theology.  We  have 
rather  plumed  ourselves  upon  the  simplicity  of  our  faith 
and  have  pointed  with  pride  to  the  brevity  of  our  three 
articles  as  compared  with  the  elaborate  distinctions  and 
definitions,  say,  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles.  This  implies 
a  subconscious  recognition  of  the  fact  which  may  here  be 
stated  openly,  that  Universalism  has  no  need  for  a  sys- 
tematic theology.  As  a  doctrine  of  salvation  it  is  indif- 
ferent to  its  argument  whether  Deity  is  conceived  as 
Unity  or  as  Trinity,  as  creationist  or  evolutionist,  as  an 
inspirer  of  minds  or  a  dictator  of  books.  I  do  not  mean 
that  these  questions  have  no  interest  for  us  as  thinking 
men,  but  only  that  we  may  arrive  at  opposite  conclusions 
concerning  them  without  in  the  least  impairing  our  hold 
upon  what  is  really  primary  and  paramount  in  essential 
Universalism.  So  long  as  we  affirm  without  hesitation 
that  God  is  our  Father,  that  He  is  good,  holy,  almighty, 
we  may  deduce  all  necessary  corollaries,  no  matter  what 
form  our  views  on  other  subjects  may  take.  And,  indeed, 
far  the  greater  number  of  Universalists — for  the  Univer- 
sal ist  Church  contains  but  a  few  of  them — have  been 
strictly  "evangelical"  save  on  this  one  point  of  destiny. 

It  may  be  added  that  we  seem  to  have  lost  whatever 
disposition  we  ever  had  to  frame  an  adequate  systematic 


THE   GENIUS   OF   UNIVERSALISM.  167 

theology.  The  articles  which  must  enter  into  the  com- 
position of  such  a  system  are  no  longer  discussed  among 
us  and  the  publications  suitable  for  their  presentation 
have  gone  out  of  existence. 

The  word  thus  given  us  to  speak  was  quite  special, 
unique  and  limited.  We  are  "a  peculiar  people" ;  but  our 
message  is  not  therefore  meagre.  Its  limitations  are  those 
of  the  Gospel  itself.  Jesus  was  neither  scholar  nor  phil- 
osopher. He  was  clearly  an  intuitionist,  of  balanced  and 
orderly  mind,  but  drawing  from  the  deep  wells  of  vision 
rather  than  of  logic.  He  illustrated  the  principle  of  his 
own  teaching,  "The  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God."  Accept- 
ing the  limitations  thus  imposed  he  occupied  a  position  ab- 
solutely incomparable  and  his  influence  upon  the  world 
has  been  correspondingly   vast. 

Had  we  developed  our  thought  movement  along  the 
lines  of  original  intention  we  should  have  realized  two 
supreme  results.  First,  we  should  have  experienced  a 
constant  increase  and  clarification  of  religious  faith.  To 
one  thoroughly  centered  in  the  great  fact  of  the  Divine 
Fatherhood,  with  all  which  it  carries  in  its  bosom,  the 
various  issues,  problems,  schools,  developments  of  the  ages 
must  pass  by  as  little  more  than  a  curious  spectacle.  Their 
kaleidoscopic  change,  fascinating  to  the  curious  intellect, 
must  be  interpreted  as  only  the  fleeting  and  ever-shifting 
manifestations  of  forces  and  purposes  whose  ultimate  out- 
come is  already  foreseen.  All  that  happens  will  be  held 
to  be  in  accordance  with  the  Divine  plan,  incapable  of 
opposing  any  real  obstacle  to  the  perfect  development  of 
those  plans,  and  woven  into  the  final  texture  as  a  part 
of  its  beauty  and  significance.  The  more  this  is  perceived 
the  calmer  and  more  triumphant  faith  becomes. 


168  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

In  the  second  place  we  should  have  discovered  ever 
new  deeps  in  this  seemingly  simple  doctrine.  It  would 
have  adjusted  itself  to  all  the  changes  and  achievements 
of  these  marvelous  decades,  and  we  holding  its  secret  would 
have  been  masters  of  the  growing  fortunes  of  the  world. 
We  should  have  stood  at  the  threshold  to  welcome  liberty 
and  democracy  with  all  their  troop  of  related  forces. 
Instead  of  looking  aghast  at  their  vigor  and  dominance, 
we  should  have  seen  that  in  natural  poAver  they  illustrate 
the  profound  affinities  of  our  human  nature  with  the  Di- 
vine archetype.  We  should  also  have  foreseen  and  dared 
to  prophesy  the  inevitable  oncoming  of  the  new  political, 
industrial  and  social  life,  and  have  held  in  our  hands 
the  one  steadying,  masterful  interpretation  of  it.  In  a 
somewhat  hazy  and  uncertain  way  we  do  assert  that  the 
solution  of  the  problems  of  the  day  and  of  all  problems 
which  can  arise  in  the  process  of  setting  men  free  and 
bringing  them  to  their  thrones  is  to  be  found  in  this 
fact  of  the  relation  between  God  and  man.  But  had  we 
kept  our  minds  absorbed  with  this  truth  we  should  have 
held  a  position  of  ministry  and  leadership  not  only  un- 
questioned but  everywhere  joyfully  recognized. 

It  was  our  fate  to  be  diverted  from  this  trunk  line  of 
natural  development  and  switched  off  into  fields  of  specu- 
lation wherein  we  have  continued  to  wander  ever  since. 
I  pay  my  tribute  with  others  to  the  imperial  mind  of 
HosEA  Ballou,  and  I  recognize  the  immense  service 
he  rendered  to  the  cause  of  speculative  Christianity;  but  in 
attempting  to  clarify  the  methods  of  the  soul's  reconcil- 
iation to  God  he  unwittingly  weakened  the  grasp  of  those 


THE   GENIUS   OF    UNIVERSALISM.  169 

who  follow  him  upon  the  fact  itself.  In  other  words, 
he  gave  such  an  interest  to  the  purely  intellectual  aspects 
of  Christian  faith  that  its  spiritual  phases  have  become 
more  and  more  obscured.  I  need  not  say  that  we  entered 
into  these  discussions  with  zest.  We  have  been  deeply 
interested  students  of  the  critical,  philosophical,  scientific 
literatures,  and  among  the  busiest  of  those  who  have  at- 
tempted to  harmonize  each  new  announcement  with  the 
fundamental  faiths  of  Christianity.  But  in  seeking  to 
work  ourselves  clear  from  superstitions  we  have  ceased  to 
maintain  our  unique  and  God-ordained  function  as  simple 
heralds  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God — and  certain  results  have 
followed. 

First,  the  change  of  emphasis  has  produced  a  critical 
in  place  of  a  religious  temper.  It  has  tended  to  make  us 
suspicious  of  all  truth  which  can  not  verify  itself  openly 
in  the  court  of  our  personal  experience.  We  have  learned 
to  cross  question  every  great  affirmation,  and  our  minds 
have  become  so  intent  upon  the  scrutiny  of  credentials  that 
the  immense  import  of  the  truth  revealed  passes  us  by  with 
diminished  effect.  It  is  as  though  a  messenger  having  been 
sent  to  us  with  great  good  news  we  paused  to  cross-ex- 
amine him,  to  raise  doubts  as  to  the  authority  he  carried, 
to  divide  upon  the  question  of  his  personal  relations  to 
his  principal,  as  son  or  minor  relative  or  mere  hireling, 
and  became  so  engrossed  in  these  investigations  and  per- 
suaded of  their  consequence  that  we  forgot  to  read  the 
letter  or  to  accept  the  gift.  Am  I  going  too  far  in  say- 
ing that  not  a  few  of  us  under  the  influence  of  this  process 
are  without  a  living  faith  in  prayer,  in  the  reality  of 
Divine  forgiveness,  in  the  possibility  of  a  visitation  of  the 


170  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Holy  Ghost? — faiths  which  are  closely  involved  with  our 
fundamental  teaching  and  without  which  it  becomes  mere 
abstraction,  but  which  we  have  largely  lost  the  capacity 
of  appreciating  and  utilizing.  Nay,  worse  yet,  have  we 
not  lost  faith  in  the  salvability  of  men  here  and  now? 
In  repentance,  conversion,  regeneration  as  actual  experi- 
ences which  can  be  induced  by  a  genuine  ministry  in  hard- 
ened hearts?  Or  even  in  our  own  ability  to  make  Uni- 
versalists  out  of  partialists  or  out  of  the  irreligious?  Are 
we  not  paralyzed  in  speech  and  behavior  by  the  fear  that 
any  effort  we  may  put  forth  actually  to  reclaim  the  sin- 
ner will  be  futile  ?  Oh,  the  pity  of  it,  that  a  church  which 
has  dared  to  proclaim  the  final  universal  victory  should 
now  flinch  and  surrender  before  the  problem  of  reaching 
and  saving  the  actual  world  of  today ! 

Another  result  of  this  process  of  rationalizing  our 
TJniversalism  has  been  to  produce  a  confused  and  diffi- 
dent message.  Has  the  Universalist  Church  a  message 
for  the  world  today?  Now,  a  message  may  be  any  one  of 
three  things.  First,  a  truth  conceived  as  having  come 
directly  from  God  and  uttered  as  upon  His  authority. 
Second,  a  general,  well  studied  philosophy  firmly  held  and 
applied  in  its  bearing  upon  truth  and  life;  or  third,  any 
truth  strongly  espoused  and  persistently  presented  with 
the  courage  and  unction  of  unfaltering  conviction. 

Are  we  preaching  today  as  though  God  speaks  through 
us,  or  are  we  rather  delivering  our  own  opinions  upon 
various  matters  of  supposed  timely  concern?  Have  we  a 
well  rounded  philosophy,  commonly  agreed  upon,  or  is 
each  man  giving  voice  to  his  own  speculations  so  that 
the  total  effect  is  something  of  a  babel?     Has  our  indi- 


THE   GENIUS   OF    UNIVERSALISM.  171 

vidua  I  ism  produced  a  polyglot  speech  which,  however  in- 
telligible when  uttered  in  its  parts,  becomes  a  confused 
jargon  when  we  attempt  to  take  it  up  as  a  whole  ?  Finally, 
do  we  preach  with  a  sense  of  urgency  horn  of  a  "woe  is 
me  if  I  preach  not,"  utterly  careless  of  the  commenting, 
cool  and  critical  hearers  who  might  wonder  at  our  warmth 
and  brand  us  for  our  fanaticism? 

Is  it  not  the  fact  that  we  have  grov^n  weary  or  timid 
in  the  preaching  of  what  is  styled  distinctive  Universalism ; 
that  we  even  entertain  a  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom  of  so- 
called   doctrinal   preaching? 

I  undertake  to  say  that  it  is  so  far  from  true  that 
Universalism  in  any  adequate  use  of  that  word  is  preached 
in  other  churches,  that  it  is  not  even  preached  in  our 
own.  We  have  largely  lost  interest  in  the  subject,  imag- 
ining perhaps  that  we  have  exhausted  it,  seeing  in  it 
nothing  but  a  trite  and  impotent  repetition  of  common- 
places. But  if  we  would  only  take  one  long,  deep,  clear 
look  into  the  heart  of  this  faith  which  gives  us  our  name, 
we  should  see  how  fresh,  timely,  necessary  it  is  for  the 
present  age,  and,  inspired  by  a  new  passion  of  assurance 
and  devotion,  should  find  our  message  and  our  mission 
at  once  in  its  tireless,  tender,  triumphant  proclamation 
as  with  a  mighty  archangelic  voice. 

A  third  effect  of  the  peculiar  intellectual  drift  to 
which  we  have  been  subject  appears  in  the  way  we  are 
inclined  to  represent  ourselves  as  the  exponents  of  ad- 
vanced and  liberal  thought.  For  my  part  I  question  this 
characterization  on  two  decisive  grounds.  First,  it  is  not 
true.  We  are  in  no  sense  leaders  in  the  world  of  thought. 
We   are   pretty   good   followers.     It   is   not   out   of   our 


172  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

ranks  that  the  great  scientists,  famous  philosophers,  illus- 
trious litterateurs,  mighty  savants  are  coming.  The  tem- 
per of  our  people  as  a  whole  is  not  distinctively  erudite 
nor  even  what  is  called  cultured.  We  are  an  intelligent 
and  open-eyed  folk,  but  it  is  a  misnomer  to  call  us  edu- 
cated in  a  signal  degree;  and  in  seeking  to  wear  a  glory 
which  we  can  not  claim  we  obscure  the  glory  which  prop- 
erly belongs  to  us.  We  are  indeed  the  heralds  of  a  liberal 
and  beautiful  religion^  and  are  a  thinking  people  in  so 
far  as  the  work  we  attempt  to  do  calls  upon  us  for  re- 
flection and  study.     So  much  but  no  more. 

Then  it  seems  to  me  there  is  another  defect  in  the 
claim  alluded  to.  It  implies  that  the  Avorld  is  especially 
desirous  of  hearing  the  utterances  of  advanced  and  liberal 
thought.  That  a  select  and  very  important  fraction  of 
the  world  is  interested  in  the  dissemination  of  thought 
is  true  enough;  but  humanity  as  a  whole,  the  masses  of 
men  whom  we  meet  as  neighbors  and  friends,  are  not  pri- 
marily concerned  in  what  is  called  clear  thinking.  They 
are  still  following  leaders  as  of  old.  Their  faith  is  rather 
reflected  than  original.  They  do  not  arrogate  to  them- 
selves the  right  or  the  capacity  to  solve  the  perplexed  ques- 
tions of  theology,  but  they  like  to  hear  what  men  of  con- 
viction have  to  say,  and  are  profoundly  interested  in  the 
practical  application  of  the  truths  which  lie  at  the  center 
of  all  real  religion.  And  we  should  resist  with  all  our 
might  any  attempt  to  identify  us  with  the  mere  thought 
forces  of  the  age,  since  it  is  rather  our  business  to  co- 
operate with  and  even  to  lead  the  spiritual  and  evangel- 
ical work  of  applying  a  reasonable  gospel  to  the  lives  of 
men. 


THE   GENIUS   OF   UNIVERSALISM.  173 

As  another  obvious  and  most  serious  Result  we  have 
experienced  a  distinct  loss  of  power.  The  power,  first, 
of  the  specialist,  of  those  who  surrender  the  ambition  to 
know  and  to  do  everything  in  order  that  the}^  may  do  a 
particular  thing  in  the  best  possible  way.  In  this  age 
I  need  hardly  pause  to  emphasize  the  value  of  the  prin- 
ciple here  invoked.  It  has  often  been  remarked  that  the 
day  of  universal  scholarship  is  past.  Life  is  not  long 
enough  for  one  to  master  all  the  contents  of  science,  phil- 
osophy, literature,  art  and  learning  in  general.  Even  the 
scholar  must  be  content  to  choose  his  specialty.  And  it 
is  equally  true  that  the  economy  of  the  militant  kingdom 
of  Christ  will  assign  to  different  departments  each  its 
own  great  function.  To  attempt  to  do  our  neighbor's 
work  is  to  neglect  our  own — is  to  be  lost  in  the  mere  strug- 
gling mass.  We  were  given  a  mission  so  clear  and  un- 
mistakable that  it  put  us  without  a  rival  on  our  own 
throne.  To  regain  that  unique  and  regal  place  should 
be  one  of  the  highest  aspirations  both  of  denominational 
pride  and  of  loyal  discipleship. 

Second,  we  have  lost  somewhat  the  power  of  sympa- 
thy. I  do  not  mean  so  much  the  sympathy  of  others  whom 
we  antagonized  by  our  alliance  with  Unitarian  principles 
— though  it  is  an  interesting  question  whether  our  distinc- 
tive work  might  not  have  been  furthered  had  we  kept 
clear  from  the  entanglements  of  this  fellowship.  I  am 
told  that  our  brother,  Thomas  Allin,  who  has  written  and 
spoken  so  effectively  in  behalf  of  the  great  faith,  specially 
deplores  the  estrangement  and  suspicion  we  have  suffered 
through  breaking  ranks  with  the  great  evangelical  body. 
But  I  am  thinking  rather  of  the  capacity  of  sympathy 


174  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

with  men.  Let  me  say  with  critical,  but  not  unkind  dis- 
crimination, that  Unitarianism  is  essentially  and  inevitably 
a  cold  and  speculative  theory.  However  true  it  may  be, 
and  I  for  one  believe  it  is  true,  it  can  never  become  "pop- 
ular," although  it  may  be  universally  accepted.  It  yields 
no  touch  of  enthusiasm  except  the  enthusiasm  of  the  clear 
thinker.  And  yet,  my  own  sympathies  are  so  much  en- 
gaged with  its  teaching  and  my  judgment  is  so  entirely 
convinced  by  its  argument,  that  I  pay  here  sincere  homage 
to  a  church  which,  albeit  doomed  to  remain  feeble  in 
numbers,  has  undoubtedly  a  great  and  distinctive  work 
assigned  to  it  in  the  achievement  of  a  complete  emanci- 
pation. 

But  Universalism,  as  I  here  define  it,  is  eminently  a 
warm,  cordial  religion.  I  repudiate  with  all  the  earnest- 
ness of  which  I  am  capable,  the  suggestion  that  ours  is 
an  esoteric  faith  which  can  never  be  appreciated  save  by 
a  high  order  of  elite  minds.  All  Christendom  past  and 
present  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  a  faith  so  simple,  clear 
and  acceptable  as  our  own;  and  every  vital  feature  of  it 
is  warm  with  the  life  blood  of  a  relation  which  a  child  can 
understand,  which  the  sage  can  not  exhaust,  and  upon 
which  the  saint  and  the  philanthropist  alike  may  draw 
without  ceasing  for  comfort,  courage  and  strength.  I  be- 
lieve that  Universalism  is  essentially  a  "popular"  religion, 
in  the  sense  of  appealing  directly  to  the  popular  heart, 
and  satisfying  the  popular  needs,  and  meeting  the  popular 
questions  which  arise;  and  that  it  is  only  necessary  for 
us  to  rid  our  minds  of  the  suspicions,  skepticisms  and  fears 
which  have  induced  a  cold  and  critical  temper  to  restore 
again  the  dominance  over  us,  and  through  us  over  all  to 


THE   GENIUS   OF   UNIVERSALISM.  175 

whom  we  preach,  of  the  faith  which,  uttered  by  the  lips 
and  expressed  in  the  life  of  the  Master,  the  common  people 
heard  gladly. 

Again,  in  so  far  as  we  have  yielded  to  the  merely 
intellectual  temperament,  we  have  lost  practical  power. 
I  mean  that  Universalism  is  a  strenuous  and  not  a  pale 
and  colorless  religion.  It  sets  us  in  relations  with 
God,  with  the  universe,  and  with  one  another  calculated 
to  exercise  every  noble  function  and  to  stir  every  di- 
vine aspiration.  It  permits  no  man  to  sit  at  ease  in 
Zion.  It  brings  us  into  dynamic  comradeship  with  our 
fellow  man,  whatever  his  lot  or  caste;  it  forbids  selfish- 
ness, treachery,  envy,  greed,  hate,  and  inspires  to  trust 
and  service  and  joyful  fellowship  continually.  It  has  only 
to  be  translated  into  life,  it  has  only  to  be  read  out  in 
the  streets,  in  the  homes,  in  the  shops,  in  the  schools, 
in  order  to  appear  not  only  as  glad  tidings  but  as  the 
voice  of  the  purest  and  finest  obligation,  the  obligation 
of  ever-present  and  infinitely  varied  opportunity. 

I  protest  that  no  man  can  saturate  his  soul  with  the 
conception  of  the  relation  that  he  sustains  to  God  as  a 
son  and  to  man  as  a  brother,  without  being  moved  to  all 
holy  emotion  and  all  high  endeavor.  For  it  is  a  vital 
faith,  and  not  chiefly  ethical  in  any  formal  way.  Its 
clutch  is  upon  the  heart  more  than  upon  the  conscience. 
Sometimes  we  have  lamented  the  fact  that  we  do  not 
secure  in  our  people  the  sense  of  duty  which  a  different 
type  of  faith  more  successfully  induces.  But  if  we  can 
set  the  heart  aglow  and  bring  men  into  conscious  com- 
munion with  the  Father,  we  shall  have  introduced  a  more 
effectual  motive.     For  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law. 


176  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

and  it  is  a  higher  strain  of  Christian  character  which  does 
the  Father's  will,  not  under  compulsion  of  a  command, 
but  under  inspiration  of  a  reverent,  trusting  affection. 
Filled  with  such  a  faith  we  should  be  known  as  the  Loving 
Church  and  should  manifest  ourselves  to  all  the  world 
as  those  who  seek  continually  to  become  great  by  being 
the  servants  of  all.  Servants  of  all,  not  by  mere  good 
will,  but  by  actual  helpfulness.  The  w^orld  will  flock  to 
the  church,  not  which  merely  talks  prettily,  but  which 
confers  actual,  tangible  benefits.  And  there  is  no  benefit 
so  tangible  and  precious  as  a  new  impulse  communicated 
to  a  jaded  heart,  a  new  hope  displacing  despair,  a  real 
fellowship  embracing  the  lonely  and  outcast.  If  we  were 
to  ask  ourselves.  What  definite  boon  are  we  conferring 
upon  those  who  gather  to  our  public  services?  would  the 
answer  be  satisfactory  ?  In  the  early  days  every  Universal- 
ist  was  a  slave  set  free ;  hence  his  enthusiasm  and  devotion. 
We  can  expect  like  enthusiasm  only  when  we  are  confer- 
ring like  benefits. 

What,  then,  are  we  to  do?  Is  the  loss  we  have  suf- 
fered irremediable?  Should  we  attempt  to  cast  away  the 
thought  results  we  have  been  so  carefully  accumulating? 
Surely  it  does  not  lie  in  my  mouth  to  ask  any  man  to 
stultify  his  own  intellect.  All  that  is  necessary  is  that 
we  should  replace  the  etnphasis  where  it  originally  was, 
and  gradually  weaning  ourselves,  not  of  the  ideas  we 
have  won,  but  of  the  false  temper  we  have  acquired,  come 
back  to  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Jesus,  come  back  to  a 
clear  grasp  of  the  great  first  principles  we  are  set  to 
espouse  and  to  proclaim,  come  back  to  the  Father;  im- 
merse ourselves  once  more  in  the  fulness  of  his  loving 


THE   GENIUS   OF    UNIVERSALISM.  177 

paternity;  read  out  from  that  divine  center  the  message 
He  wishes  through  us  to  deliver  to  His  children;  com- 
mit ourselves  fearlessly  to  His  keeping;  accept  the  in- 
spirations which  follow  from  an  unquestioning  faith  in 
our  mission  and  in  Him  as  its  founder;  work  not  in  our 
human  strength  alone  but  as  guided  and  helped  in  every 
activity  by  an  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

I  believe  that  the  signs  of  the  hour  with  us  show 
unmistakably  that  the  change  for  which  I  plead  is  actually 
in  progress.  The  Universalist  Church  is  sweeping  rapidly 
around  the  circle  to  the  point  of  its  departure.  And  it 
may  even  turn  out  that  the  course  of  history  which  I 
have  deplored  has  in  fact  been  profitable,  and  that  we 
shall  come  to  our  original  and  real  mission  with  a  strength 
of  mind  and  a  fortitude  of  purpose,  with  a  capacity  for 
seeing  and  for  serving,  which  might  not  have  been  pos- 
sible without  this  experience.  It  only  remains  that  we 
should  surrender  to  the  leading  of  the  hour,  that  we  should 
feel  ourselves  already  in  the  grasp  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
that  we  should  recognize  the  thoughts  which  fuse  us  here 
together,  and  the  high  emotions  which  burn  in  all  hearts 
alike,  as  evidence  that  we  are  not  alone,  that  the  Father 
who  called  us  is  with  us,  and  intends  now  to  send  us 
forth  upon  a  mission  such  as  we  have  not  dared  to  dream 
of.  The  world  waits  for  a  revelation.  It  cries  out  in 
a  thousand  eager  tongues,  "shew  us  the  Father  and  it 
sufficeth  us,"  And  to  whom  in  this  day  can  it  look,  if  not 
to  ourselves,  for  a  clear,  affirmative,  comprehensive,  cour- 
ageous, adequate  presentation  of  that  high  and  all-em- 
bracing relationship  which  solves  every  vexed  question 
of  life  and  brings  men,  when  understood,  into  their  divine 
estate  ? 


The  Washington  Commemoration. 

At  the  Biennial  Session  of  the  General  Convention, 
held  in  the  Church  of  Our  Father,  in  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  October  33-28,  1903,  Tuesday  evening, 
October  37,  was  set  apart  for  a  commemorative  service  in 
observance  of  the  centennial  of  the  adoption  of  the  Pro- 
fession of  Belief.  Though  assigned  to  the  last  evening  of 
the  Convention,  after  a  week  of  most  exhausting  labor,  the 
people  assembled  in  great  numbers,  filling  the  large  audi- 
torium and  overflowing  into  the  galleries  and  side  rooms. 
Principal  Arthur  W.  Pierce^  of  Dean  Academy,  Frank- 
lin, Mass.,  presided  and  the  Kev.  A.  Eugene  Bartlett  of 
Manchester,  N.  H.,  who  led  the  devotional  exercises  at  the 
opening  of  the  Centennial  at  Winchester,  again  conducted 
the  preliminary  exercises.    The  service  here  follows : 

THE  HYMN. 

"Strong  son  of  God,   immortal  love, 

Whom  we,   that  have  not  seen  thy  face, 
By   faith,   and   faith  alone   embrace, 
Believing   where   we   can    not   prove! 

"Thou   seemest   human   and   divine, 

The  highest,  holiest  manhood,  thou: 
Our  wills  are  ours,  we  know  not  how, 

Our  will  are  ours,  to  make  them  thine. 

"Our   little   systems   have   their   day; 

They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be; 

They  are  but  broken  lights  of  thee, 
And  thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they." 

THE    SELECTION". 

"Let  US  now  praise  famous  men,  and  our  fathers  that 
begat  us.     The  Lord  hath  wrought  great  glory  by  them 

(178) 


WASHINGTON   COMMEMORATION.  179 

through  his  great  power  from  the  beginning.  Such  as  did 
bear  rule  in  their  kingdoms,  men  renowned  for  their 
power,  giving  counsel  by  their  understanding,  and  de- 
claring prophecies :  leaders  of  the  people  by  their  counsels, 
and  by  their  knowledge  of  learning  meet  for  the  people, 
wise  and  eloquent  in  their  instructions :  such  as  found 
out  musical  tunes,  and  recited  verses  in  writing :  rich  men 
furnished  with  ability,  living  peaceably  in  their  habita- 
tions :  all  these  were  honored  in  their  generations,  and 
were  the  glory  of  their  times.  There  be  of  them,  that 
have  left  a  name  behind  them,  that  their  praises  might 
be  reported.  And  some  there  be,  which  have  no  memo- 
rial; who  are  perished,  as  though  they  had  never  been; 
and  are  become  as  though  they  had  never  been  born ;  and 
their  children  after  them.  But  these  were  merciful  men, 
whose  righteousness  hath  not  been  forgotten.  With  their 
seed  shall  continually  remain  a  good  inheritance,  and 
their  children  are  within  the  covenant.  Their  seed  stand- 
eth  fast,  and  their  children  for  their  sakes.  Their  seed 
shall  remain  forever,  and  their  glory  shall  not  be  blotted 
out.  Their  bodies  are  buried  in  peace;  but  their  name 
liveth  forever  more.  The  people  will  tell  of  their  wisdom, 
and  the  congregation    will    shew    forth    their    praise." 

MR.  BARTLETT's  opening  WORDS. 

Precious  this  quarter-hour  that  is  given  us  to  pre- 
pare ourselves  for  the  messages  that  are  to  be  delivered 
this  night !  Fifteen  golden  minutes  in  which  to  free  our 
minds  from  prejudice;  to  banish  all  preconceived  notions 
and  make  ourselves  ready  to  receive  the  words  of  life  from 
the  fathers  of  the  church.  This  opportunity  is  vouch- 
safed us  that  we  may  quicken  our  minds  and  open  our 
souls  to  great  truths. 


180  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

The  helpfulness  of  the  words  to  be  spoken  shall  de- 
pend largely  upon  ourselves.  To  him  who  hath  the  listen- 
ing ear  shall  be  given  the  words  of  Life.  To  him  who  is 
conscious  of  his  need  shall  be  poured  out  the  Infinite 
strength. 

These  men  come  to  tell  us  that  we  have  an  illustrious 
past;  that  we  are  born  into  a  great  spiritual  heritage. 
They  will  bid  us  take  our  places  in  line  with  that  stalwart 
heroism  that  was  able  to  lay  the  great  foundation  stones 
of  a  universe  religion.  We  are  to  join  hands  with  men 
who  could  be  heroes  when  everywhere  were  obstacles  and 
hindrances,  when  it  was  only  the  hour  of  daybreak  for 
religious  freedom.  Looking  and  listening  can  we  be  aught 
but  heroes  when  so  many  hindrances  have  become  helps ; 
when  the  glory  of  the  approaching  noon-tide  proclaims  the 
world  swinging  toward  the  faith  in  the  All-Father  and 
his  completed  kingdom?  They  found  remedies  and  left 
others  to  find  complaints.  They  did  not  stop  to  debate 
failure,  for  they  were  sure  of  victory. 

Let  us  question  ourselves,  asking  what  our  faith, 
come  down  from  the  fathers,  is  worth  to  us  today.  What 
is  this  broadest  interpretation  of  Christ's  religion  worth 
to  us?  When  we  behold  the  injustices  of  life,  we  can 
yet  go  forward  with  a  brave  heart,  because  we  know  that 
there  is  an  outcome;  that  every  crooked  path  shall  be 
straightened,  that  every  injustice  will  be  righted,  that 
though  the  paths  lead  far  they  will  reach  at  last  a  Father's 
throne.  What  is  it  worth  in  the  dark  hour  to  hear  this 
message  of  the  Father's  tenderness  calling  gently  to  us, 
his  children,  saying  to  us  all, — I  have  time  enough, 
strength  enough,  love  enough  to  bring  all  together  in  the 
great  home. 


WASHINGTON   COMMEMORATION.  181 

It  is  our  opportunity  tonight  to  so  listen  and  so  re- 
ceive the  messages  from  two  of  the  leaders  of  our  present 
church  that  we  shall  feel  the  mantle  of  Hosea  Ballou  and 
his  associates  descending  upon  our  shoulders,  and  find 
ourselves  girded  with  courage  and  resolutely  determined 
to  make  this  meeting  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  almost 
as  momentous  in  the  history  of  Universalism  as  that  old 
time  conference  in  the  white  church  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Ashuelot.    That  it  may  be  so  let  us  now  pray. 

PRAYER. 

Infinite  and  Ever-loving  Spirit,  earnestly  do  we  seek  thy  blessing. 
We  thank  thee  for  all  the  way  thou  hast  led  us  as  a  people;  for  the  priceless 
faith  that  is  ours.  We  rejoice  in  the  faith  that  has  inspired  us  with  courage 
to  go  on,  knowing  that  victory  is  certain.  We  devoutly  thank  thee  for  the 
faith  that  has  comforted  our  sorrows  and  given  us  ever  the  vision  of  the 
life  that  is  to  come. 

We  would  test  our  every  doctrine  by  practice  and  be  discontent  until 
our  life  has  spoken  more  eloquently  than  our  words.  We  pray  that  some- 
thing of  thy  power  may  be  given  those  who  are  to  speak  to  us  tonight,  that 
thou  wilt  draw  near  unto  them  and  enable  them  to  bring  us  the  message, 
which  we  need  to  hear. 

May  it  be  the  Pentecostal  hour  for  us!  Baptize  us  with  the  fire  of  a 
holy  and  unquenchable  zeal  to  bring  in  thy  kingdom.  May  the  spirit  of  the 
fathers  descend  upon  us,  aye  more,  may  the  spirit  of  the  Christ  they  loved 
and  served  be  as  a  spiritual  presence  with  us  this  night. 

In  His  name  we  ask  it.     Amen. 

The  presiding  officer  then  spoke  as  follows : 
"From  the  consideration  of  the  present  conditions  and 
the  future  policies  of  our  beloved  church,  the  meeting  of 
tonight  calls  us  to  look  backward  and  to  bring  closer  to 
our  minds  the  men  and  the  deeds  of  a  hundred  years  ago. 
We  honor  by  this  gathering  the  framing  of  the  Win- 
chester Profession  of  Belief  and  the  fathers  of  our  faith, 
the  giants  of  those  earlier  days.  With  all  the  triumphs 
of  our  faith  and  of  our  church,  it  is  well  for  us  to  hark 


182  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

back  to  those  clays  of  beginnings,  to  consider  the  battles 
these  pioneers  of  a  holier  and  better  Christian  thought 
fought  for  us  and  for  the  cause  of  Christ's  gospel  the 
world  over.  We  honor  their  labors,  their  sacrifices,  and 
their  consecration.  They  little  realized  the  far-reaching 
results  of  their  building  on  that  eventful  day.  The  world 
has  moved  and  is  moving  today  toward  their  platform  and 
its  principles  still  live  and  are  moulding  the  thinking  and 
the  living  of  men.  Its  work  is  not  done  and  yet  more 
triumphs  shall  belong  to  it  in  the  future  day,  when  men 
shall  the  more  realize  the  significance  of  that  little  gath- 
ering of  men  in  the  old  meeting-house  at  Winchester.  Our 
church  today  has  its  roots  back  in  that  historic  past.  We 
honor  the  men ;  we  hallow  the  old  "Profession,"  endeared 
by  a  century  of  use.  We  pray  that  our  church  may  hold 
fast  to  the  truth  and  to  the  spirit  of  that  older  day.  Let 
us  honor  the  past  by  rising  and  repeating  together  the 
Profession  of  Belief." 

\^All  standing  repeated  the  Winchester  Profession.'] 
Hon.  Henry  B.  Metcalf,  of  Ehode  Island,  ascended 
the  platform  and  spoke  as  follows: 

"By  the  courtesy  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements, 
a  few  minutes  have  been  assigned  me  that  I  may  present 
a  matter  which  I  believe  will  be  of  interest.  This  meet- 
ing is  in  recognition  of  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the 
adoption  of  the  Winchester  Profession  of  Belief.  The 
services  at  Winchester  a  few  weeks  since  were  matter  of 
wide  interest  all  over  our  land,  but  no  one  was  more  en- 
thusiastic than  was  the  venerable  treasurer  of  Tufts  Col- 
lege, Hon.  Newton  Talbot,  a  parishioner  and  personal 
friend  of  Hosea  Ballou. 


WASHINGTON   COMMEMORATION.  183 

"The  infirmities  of  advanced  years  forbade  Mr.  Talbot 
to  make  the  journey  to  Winchester,  as  he  had  intended, 
but  he  could  not  repress  the  desire  in  some  form  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  exercises  of  the  occasion,  and  he  conceived 
the  idea  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  anniversary  by 
procuring  wood  from  the  old  Winchester  church  to  be 
made  into  gavels.  One  of  the  gavels  so  prepared  was  pre- 
sented to  the  New  Hampshire  Universalist  Convention. 

"Having  called  to  his  association  Eev.  Dr.  Henry  W. 
Rugg  and  myself,  both  former  presidents  of  this  Con- 
vention, he  suggested  that  a  gavel  be  presented  by  us  to 
this  body,  duly  inscribed  as  indicated  by  him.  Mrs.  Ger- 
trude Rugg  Field,  daughter  of  Rev.  Dr.  Rugg,  being  pres- 
ent at  the  services  at  Winchester,  was  inspired  to  express 
her  enthusiasm  in  a  few  lines  which  I  will  request  her 
father  to  read." 

POEM    BY    GEETKUDE   RUGG    FIELD. 

The  cross  was  common  wood  till  He 
Was  crucified  upon  the  tree; 
The  Holy  Grail  was  earthen  cup 
Till  from  it  our  dear  Lord  did  sup. 
All   symbols,   by  the  world  enshrined, 
Must  be  transmuted  through  the  mind — 
Divinity  must   stamp  the  sign 
To  make   its  meaning  truly  fine. 
The   seeing  eye   swift   speeds  the   soul 
Towards  the  spirit's  highest  goal; 
The  senses  may  be  wings  whereby 
Man  soars  from  earth  to  starry  sky; 
To  touch  the  hem  ofttime  reveals 
The  presence  of  the  thought  that  heals. 
So  we,  today,  this  gavel  give — 
Fit  symbol  of  the  truths  that  live — 
Fashioned  from  wood  the  fathers  found 
In  Winchester  made  holy  ground 
By  service,  sacrifice  and  prayer — 
The  Mecca  of  our  church  is  there. 


184  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

The  timbers  of  their  temple  stood 
The  tests  of  time,   and   from  its  wood 
.    Was  made  this  gavel,  sign  of  power, 
To  join  the  past  and  present  hour. 
O,  may  its  use  be  sanctified 
And  wisdom  all  its  rulings  guide! 
All   honor  to  the  fathers'  strength — 
They  fought  the  fight,   to  win  at  length; 
They  never  faltered,  though  they  trod 
Hard  paths  for  truth  and  for  their  God. 
The   favor  of  the  world  denied. 
They  walked  the  closer  by  His  side; 
Tbeir  living  faith  sustained  and  blessed 
When  over-burdened  and  distressed. 
May  we  today,   more  richly  dowered, 
Be  for  a  greater  work  empowered. 
A  noble  heritage  is  ours. 
Life's  gracious  largess   freely  showers; 
Quit  ye  like  men!    Let  not  the  past 
Hold  you  with  fetters  strong  and  fast, 
But  spur  you  for  the  race  of  life, 
A  present  help  in  stress  and  strife. 
Be  thankful  for  the  past,  but  pray 
And   work   to   make   each   glad   today 
Better,  because  the  seeds  once  sown 
Have   into   flower   and    fruitage   grown; 
And  we,   the  gardeners,   here  and  now 
Must  sheave  the  harvest,  to  endow 
Our  church,  if  we  would  follow  where 
The  fathers  led,  their  mantles  wear. 
On  thee,  O  church  and  faith  we  love. 
May  power  descend  from  God  above 
Till  Then  and  Now  shall  be  made  one— 
His  will  and  work  and  way  be  done! 

Mr.  Metcalf  continued:  "Without  any  suspicion  of 
intent  of  Df.  Rugg  and  myself,  the  brave  men  and  women 
of  the  church  in  Winchester,  who  desired  to  express  their 
regard  for  this  Convention,  have  deputed  their  pastor, 
Eev.  C.  J.  Harris,  to  represent  them,  and  I  ask  the  privi- 
lege of  presenting  Bro.  Harris." 

ADDRESS    OP    REV.    C.    J.    HARRIS,   OF    WINCHESTER. 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow  Workers:  It  is  with  much 
pleasure  that  I  bring  to  this  Convention  the  most  cordial 


WASHINGTON  COMMEMORATION.  185 

greetings  from  the  old  Winchester  parish.  We  wish  to 
express  our  most  hearty  appreciation  to  those  of  our  faith 
who  helped  to  make  successful  our  recent  celebration  of 
the  adoption  of  the  Profession  of  Belief. 

My  presence  here  is  due  to  the  most  generous  gift  I 
received  from  the  visiting  delegates. 

In  order  to  express  my  personal  appreciation  to  those 
who  so  generously  contributed  toward  the  gift  presented 
to  me,  and  also  to  place  in  the  keeping  of  this  Conven- 
tion a  token  of  much  historic  significance,  I  take  the  lib- 
erty to  present  to  you  these  articles. 

The  box  contains  a  plate  with  a  picture  of  the  old 
church,  and  on  its  interior  may  be  found  a  number  of 
pictures  of  historic  value. 

The  stone  of  this  gavel  was  taken  from  the  inside 
of  the  old  well  in  the  yard  of  Hosea  Ballou's  home  in 
Richmond,  N".  H.  It  has  been  worn,  as  you  see,  by  the 
water  during  the  century  and  a  half  it  has  lain  in  its 
place. 

The  head  of  this  gavel  is  made  from  a  piece  of  the 
pulpit  taken  from  the  Winchester  church,  and  was  a  part 
of  the  furniture  of  1803.  The  handle  of  the  gavel  is  an 
original  pin,  in  the  rough,  and  just  as  it  was  left  when 
cut  out  with  an  axe  150  years  ago.  It  came  from  the 
roof  of  the  old  Ballou  home,  and  this  pin  helped  to  keep 
a  roof  over  the  head  of  Hosea  Ballou  as  long  as  he  resided 
in  New  Hampshire. 

On  the  plate  may  be  found  these  words:  "A  gift  to 
the  General  Convention.  Ecv.  C.  J.  Harris."  With  three 
dates:  "1771,"  referring  to  the  birth  of  America's  most 
spiritual  thinker,  Hosea  Ballou,  and  "1803,"  the  date  of 


186  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

the  Winchester  Convention,  when  there  was  adopted  one 
of  the  greatest  and  strongest  declarations  of  religious 
principles  the  world  has  ever  produced;  "1903,"  the  cen- 
tennial year  and  also  the  year  of  this  gift. 

Mr.  President,  will  you  permit  me  at  this  time,  to 
express  the  great  joy  I  experience  in  being  one  of  your 
faith?  When  this  convention  last  convened  I  was  not  a 
member  of  this  denomination,  and  was  in  doubt  and  dark- 
ness. I  sought  a  man  of  God,  who  is  stationed  in  the 
South,  and  by  the  help  and  inspiration  of  his  most  exalted 
type  of  Christian  character,  I  was  led  into  the  light  of 
this  faith.  This  servant.  Dr.  W.  H.  McGlauflin,  is  daily 
adding  dignity  and  influence  to  our  church  in  that  section. 

Next  I  came  in  touch  with  the  spiritual  dynamo  that 
is  sending  the  light  and  power  of  our  church  through 
the  South,  and  by  contact  with  this  force,  Eev.  Dr.  Q.  H. 
Shinn,  I  became  enthusiastic  in  this  faith. 

Then  came  cordial,  kind  and  encouraging  messages 
from  our  beloved  National  Superintendent,  Dr.  I.  M. 
Atwood,  that  made  me  feel  I  had  chosen  wisely.  After 
this  the  new-born  child  was  sent  to  Winchester  to  the 
grandmother  church,  where  she  is  doing  her  best  to  "train 
up  the  child  in  the  way  he  should  go." 

I  am  grateful  to  those  whose  endeavors  on  my  behalf 
have  been  so  generously  bestowed,  and  I  assure  you  I  feel 
myself  established  on  an  immovable  basis  of  religious  prin- 
ciples. 

Again  permit  me  to  express  the  good  will  of  my 
Winchester  people  and  assure  you  that  the  fire  is  still  alive 
on  the  altar  at  your  Mecca  and  that  the  church  there  still 
lives  and  ever  will  live  for  the  faith  that  was  therein 


WASHINGTON   COMMEMORATION.  187 

adopted  for  the  good  of  humanity,  and  the  glory  of  the 
Universal  Father. 

RESPONSE  TO   THE  GIFT   OF   RELICS. 

Principal  Pierce  said :  "In  behalf  of  the  Universalist 
General  Convention,  I  receive  these  tokens  of  your  gen- 
erous thought.  They  shall  be  preserved  as  precious  relics 
of  our  historic  past  and  shall  be  memorials  to  future  con- 
ventions of  the  old  Winchester  church  and  of  Hosea 
Ballou  and  his  brethren  of  the  days  of  the  beginnings. 
We  one  and  all  thank  the  generous  donors  of  these  unique 
gifts. 

"From  the  many  students  of  our  church  history,  your 
program  committee  has  called  the  first  speaker  of  the 
evening  as  one  well  qualified  by  wide  experience  in  our 
church,  by  a  lively  interest  in  the  subject,  and  by  extensive 
research  and  scholarly  tastes,  to  tell  us  the  story  of  'The 
Winchester  Profession  and  Its  Framers.'  I  take  pleasure 
in  introducing  Eev.  Dr.  J.  S.  Cantwell,  of  Chicago." 

[Z)r.  CantweU's  Historical  Address  followed.] 

INTRODUCING  PRESIDENT  CAPEN. 

"You  have  heard  the  eloquent  story  of  one  hundred 
years  ago,  'The  oak  has  from  the  acorn  grown.'  No  one 
is  better  fitted  to  tell  3'ou  the  story  of  the  century  of  pro- 
gress than  President  E.  H.  Capen,  of  Tufts  College, 
Mass.,  whom  I  now  introduce." 

[Dr.  Capen's  address  followed.'] 

It  was  nearly  11  o'clock  when  the  congregation  was 
dismissed,  after  uniting  in  Abel  C.  Thomas'  hymn  (663, 
Church  Harmonies),  sung  to  old  "Bannockburn."  It  was 
a  happy  thought  that  selected  this  glorious  Universalist 


188  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

hymn,  by  one  of  the  great  preachers  of  our  past,  to  close 
the  exercises  of  the  memorable  evening. 

Thou,   whose  wide-extended   sway- 
Suns  and  systems  e'er  obey! 
Thou,  our  Guardian  and  our  stay. 

Evermore  adored, 
In  prospective.  Lord,  we  see 
Jew  and  Gentile,  bond  and  free, 
Reconciled  in  Christ  to  thee, 

Holy,   Holy  Lord. 

Thou  by  all  shalt  be  confessed. 
Ever  blessing,  ever  blest, 
When   to   thy   eternal   rest, 

In  the  courts  above, 
Thou  shalt  bring  the  sore-oppressed, 
Fill  each  joy-desiring  breast. 
Make  of  each  a  welcome  guest, 

At  the  feast  of  Love. 

When  destroying  death  shall  die. 
Hushed   be   every  rising   sigh. 
Tears  be  wiped  from  every  eye, 

Nevermore  to  fall — 
Then  shall  praises  fill  the  sky. 
And  angelic  hosts  shall  cry. 
Holy,  Holy  Lord,  Most  High, 

Thou  art  All  in  All! 


WILLARD    C.    SELLECK. 
GERTRUDE   RUGG   FIELD.  JAMES    SHRIGLEY. 

J.    A.    STONER. 


MRS.    C.    A.    SOULE. 


Letters  and  Recollections/ 

I. — REV.  JAMES  SHRIGLEY,  D.  D. 

The  very  pleasant  acquaintance  I  had  with  your 
father  and  mother  long  years  ago  intensifies  the  wish  that 
I  have  often  expressed,  that  I  had  been  born  a  half  of  a 
century  earlier,  as  I  feel  sure  that  I  should  have  been 
one  of  those  who  formed  that  grand  old  Profession  which 
has  been  the  admiration  of  several  generations.  Even  our 
own  people,  with  all  their  schools  and  colleges,  after  years 
of  debate,  have  been  unable  to  add  either  strength  or  beauty 
of  expression  to  the  noble  utterance  of  our  fathers  given 
in  Winchester  one  hundred  years  ago.  I  speak  thus 
plainly  because  of  my  great  age  and  of  the  interest  I  have 
had  in  our  great  hope.  Ever  since  I  was  old  enough  to 
understand  the  meaning  of  words  I  have  never  been  either 
a  skeptic  or  a  fanatic,  but  have  always  believed  in  God 
as  a  Father  and  Friend  and  that  all  men  are  brethren  who 
must  ultimately  find  a  common  home.  My  earliest  thoughts 
were  that  all  men  believed  as  I  did,  and  when  I  found 
that  a  minister  preached  that  many  would  suffer  to  all 
eternity  for  the  mistakes  of  a  short  life  time  on  earth,  my 
heart  was  sick;  it  was  full  of  sorrow  and  I  pleaded  with 
my  good  mother  never  to  take  me  to  hear  that  bad  man 

^Letters  addressed  to  Miss  J.  Grace  Alexander,  Winchester,  and  read 
at  the  meeting  of  the  Woman's  Centenary  Association,  Tuesday,  Sep- 
tember  30. 

f189 


190  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

again.  My  earliest  years  were  full  of  faith,  hope  and 
love,  not  only  in  the  home  circle  but  also  in  the  old  Wes- 
leyan  chapel.  After  I  had  heard  the  preacher  spoken  of, 
I  heard  the  doctrine  of  endless  sin  and  sorrow  so  often 
that  I  concluded  that  I  was  entirely  alone  in  my  great 
hope  that  God  would  triumph  over  all  evil.  But  I  still 
held  fast  my  faith  alone  and  never  heard  that  there  was 
another  believer  in  all  the  world  who  shared  my  blessed 
hope — a  hope  which  came  to  me  spontaneously  and  un- 
bidden. 

When  I  was  about  sixteen  years  old  one  of  my  play- 
mates who  had  heard  me  speak  of  my  belief  came  to  me 
with  the  news  that  there  was  a  notice  posted  in  the  post- 
office  that  a  minister  was  to  preach  in  the  Town  Hall 
in  Putney,  Vt.,  that  Christ  taught  that  all  men  would 
be  saved.  I  immediately  ran  home,  a  distance  of  half  a 
mile,  and  asked  my  good  mother  that  I  might  hear  him 
and  promised  to  be  the  best  boy  in  all  the  town  if  she 
would  let  me  go.  Like  the  true  and  loving  mother  that 
she  was,  she  replied,  "Yes,  my  child,  you  shall  go,  and  I 
shall  go  with  you."  When  the  day  arrived  we  were  in 
our  seats  early.  Soon  the  preacher  made  his  appearance. 
He  was  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  his  voice  was.clear 
and  he  was  readily  understood. 

After  the  usual  opening  services,  he  began  his  prayer, 
not  in  the  ordinary  hurried  manner,  but  by  uttering  the 
question  slowly  and  deliberately,  "Shall  we  pray?"  After 
a  few  minutes  spent  in  silent  prayer,  he  said,  "Our  Father 
and  our  Friend,  hallowed  be  thy  name."  As  he  uttered 
these  words,  the  tears  began  to  flow  down  my  cheeks  and 
I  wept  for  joy.    The  prayer  ended,  the  tenderest  chord  in 


LETTERS  AND  RECOLLECTIONS.  191 

my  heart  had  been  touched  and  I  was  completely  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  ocean  of  God's  infinite  and  unchanging 
love.  The  sermon  was  full  of  faith,  hope  and  love;  in 
sentences  short  and  emphatic  and  so  clear  in  utterance 
that  a  child  could  understand  them.  When  he  had  spoken 
about  ten  minutes  I  burned  so  much  with  sympathy  with 
the  spoken  thoughts  and  emotions  that,  forgetting  where 
I  was,  I  rose  from  my  seat  and  said  to  my  mother, 
"Mother,  that  is  just  what  I  told  you !" 

Never  in  all  my  life  had  I  been  under  such  magnetic 
influence.  It  was  just  what  I  believed  and  what  I  knew 
not  that  any  one  else  believed.  The  climax  was  reached 
when  he  said,  "God  is  impartial.  His  sun  shines  on  all. 
His  rain  falls  on  all.  His  harvests  ripen  for  all.  His 
birds  sing  for  all.  His  flowers  bloom  for  all.  His  Son 
died  for  all  and  God  himself  shall  be  all  in  all.  Then  his 
will  be  all  the  glory  and  ever  the  boundless  bliss." 

That  preacher  was  Eev.  W.  S.  Balch,  and  it  was  not 
long  after  that  I  heard  of  him  as  preaching  in  Winchester. 
He  was  a  noble  man  and  his  memory  is  very  precious  to 
me. 

The  years  passed  by  and  I  pursued  my  studies  as 
opportunity  offered,  and  last,  but  not  least,  with  Eev.  John 
H.  WilHs,  of  Stafford,  Conn.,  and  Eev.  E.  0.  Williams,  of 
Hartford.  Mr.  Williams  was  a  profound  scholar  and  had 
no  superior  as  a  logician.  Mr.  Willis  had  had  experience 
as  a  tutor  in  New  Hampshire  and  taught  some  ten  or 
more  of  our  most  successful  ministers  how  to  preach.  His 
first  words  to  every  student  were :  "I  am  to  teach  you  how 
to  talk  so  as  to  be  understood  and  to  behave  as  Christian 
gentlemen."  And  I  never  saw  a  man  better  qualified  for 
the  work. 


192  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

An  incident  will  illustrate  the  tone  of  public  senti- 
ment in  Connecticut  seventy  years  ago. 

Mr.  Williams  and  I  were  self-appointed  missionaries, 
preaching  wherever  opportunity  offered.  I  was  once  called 
to  attend  a  funeral  in  Durham  and,  as  there  were  several 
roads,  I  selected  the  old  turnpike  on  which  were  several 
toll-gates.  The  rule  of  the  turnpike  company  was  to  allow 
ministers  to  pass  free,  but  those  of  our  faith  were  often 
not  allowed  this  privilege.  At  the  first  gate  I  drove  up  to 
it  in  the  middle  of  the  road  so  that  no  one  could  pass  me, 
and  asked  the  old  lady  who  collected  the  toll  to  pass  me  as 
I  was  a  minister.  She  asked  me  for  my  credentials,  and 
I  showed  her  my  Bible.  She  asked  where  I  graduated.  I 
replied,  "In  the  School  of  the  Apostles.  Paul  is  the 
President,  Timothy  the  Vice-President,  John  and  James 
are  professors  of  theology,  Peter  of  elocution  and  Luke 
our  physician."  "Well,  what  church  do  you  belong  to?" 
she  asked.  "I  believe  that  the  good  Lord  will  have  mercy 
on  all  of  us."  "Then,"  said  she,  "let  me  tell  you  that  you 
can  not  pass  this  gate  free!"  A  crowd  gathered,  among 
which  was  a  director  of  the  company,  who  ordered  the 
woman  to  allow  me  to  pass.  She  reluctantly  yielded,  mur- 
muring, "If  this  business  goes  on,  it  will  not  be  long  before 
we  shall  have  to  let  Unitarians  and  Quakers  pass  just  the 
same  as  Christians !" 

My  first  visit  to  Winchester  was  in  1836,  when  I  en- 
joyed the  privilege  of  preaching  in  your  dear  old  church 
and  I  call  to  mind  a  few  of  those  good  old  men  and  women 
who  were  among  your  earlier  members.  There  were  two 
or  three  Alexanders,  Deacon  Rich  and  others  who  were 
true  Christian  gentlemen  of  the  old  school.    If  the  young 


LETTERS  AND   RECOLLECTIONS.  193 

men  and  young  women  now  leaders  in  your  church  work 
are  half  as  good  as  their  fathers  and  mothers  they  are 
about  good  enough.  The  fathers  and  mothers  of  this 
church  were  people  of  refinement  and  culture. 

Of  the  ninety  years  I  have  lived  on  the  earth,  three 
score  and  ten  have  been  given  to  the  work  of  the  ministry 
and  I  hope  my  name  may  be  enrolled  among  the  defend- 
ers of  the  Winchester  Profession  of  Faith  and  that  in 
after  years  it  may  be  said  of  me:  "James  Shrigley  was 
born  a  Universalist — he  lived  a  Universalist  and  he  died 
a  Universalist,  believing  that  in  the  dispensation  of  the 
fullness  of  time  God  will  gather  together  in  one  all  things 
in  Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  on 
earth,  even  in  him." 

Appreciating  your  complimentary  letter,  I  am,  with 
assurances  of  regard.  Truly  yours, 

James  Shkigley. 

Philadelphia,  August,  1903. 


II. — REV.  CAROLINE  A.  SOULE. 

Yours  of  July  23d  came  duly  to  hand.  I  thank  you 
very  much  for  so  kindly  writing  me.  It  is  very  pleasant 
for  us  old  people  to  know  that  we  have  not  passed  out  of 
the  memory  of  our  church  members,  though  the  infirmi- 
ties of  life's  decline  obUge  us  to  stand  outside  the  busy 
ranks, — to  be  only  observers  and  listeners  when  once  we 
were  enthusiastic  toilers.  For  myself,  I  can  truly  say  I 
watch  the  procession  of  events  with  the  keenest  interest, — 
sometimes  a  little  depressed,  but  oftener  hopeful.  I  know 
that  God's  truth  must  eventually  prevail,  and  so  keep  up 


194  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

my  courage,  even  when  the  cloud  does  not  at  once  show 
its  silver  lining. 

With  regard  to  the  grand  centennial  of  which  you  so 
kindly  notify  me,  I  am  free  to  say  that  were  I  residing  in 
the  U.  S.  A.  at  this  time,  I  would  do  my  very  best  to  be 
present^  for  I  should  feel  that  my  feet  were  treading 
hallowed  ground.  Winchester  is  indeed  a — perhaps  I 
should  say,  the  Mecca  of  Universalism.  But  I  remember 
Good  Luck,  with  its  sacred  memories,  and  so  I  leave  out 
the  and  say  one  of  our  Meccas ! 

Of  nothing  am  I  prouder  than  that  this  Profession 
of  Faith  has  been  ours  for  a  hundred  years.  We  had 
giants  in  those  early  days  (thank  God,  the  race  is  not 
extinct ! ) ,  giants  with  brains  that  could  see  and  foresee, 
with  hearts  that  could  love  far  away  into  the  future,  with 
hands  that  could  lay  foundations  indestructible.  And  to 
stand  where  those  men  stood !  Ah !  the  very  thought  is  an 
inspiration ! 

But  I  can  not  cross  the  wide  space  of  water  that  inter- 
venes between  my  present  home  and  that  spot  so  fragrant 
with  sacred  memories.  In  spirit  though  I  shall  be  with 
you  and  all  that  are  privileged  to  be  there  and  the  day  will 
be  to  me  a  day  of  thanksgiving, — thanks  for  the  beautiful 
Past, — thanks  for  the  hopeful  Present. 

It  may  interest  you  to  know  that  one  of  my  first  read- 
ing lessons  was  this  same  "Profession  of  Faith,"  spelled 
out  and  pronounced  at  my  mother's  knee,  and  afterward 
repeated  to  my  father  every  Sunday  morning.  Ah !  the 
mothers  and  fathers  of  those  early  days  were  faithful  to 
their  children,  and  though  we  had  no  Sunday-schools  at 
that  date,  our  religious  education  was  made  a  solemn  duty 


LETTERS   AND   RECOLLECTIONS.  195 

by  those  who  had  come  out  of  the  darkness  into  the  light. 
So  you  will  readily  guess  that  those  three  Articles  are  a 
precious  possession  to  me,  and  will  be  so  long  as  this  old 
heart  beats. 

It  may  interest  you  to  know  that  I  am  one  of  the 
oldest  survivors  of  our  early  women  writers  of  the  church : 
born  in  1824,  married  in  1843,  widowed  in  1852.  For 
about  forty  years  I  earned  nearly  all  my  living  by  my  pen. 

In  my  mission  work  in  this  "Auld  Northe  Countrie" 
I  have  had  much  to  do  with  creeds.  I  studied  them  care- 
fully many  and  many  a  day.  Letter  by  letter  I  had  to 
fight  them,  and  each  time  when  I  had  closed  my  argu- 
ments against  their  tyranny  and  blasphemy,  I  have 
thrilled  my  audience  to  the  heart  by  reciting  our  own  brief 
but  comprehensive  Articles  of  Faith.  What  more  needed 
those  dear  old  fathers  to  say?  What  more  could  they 
say?  For  one  old  Universalist  I  can  speak  honestly,  and 
say  it  satisfies  me.    I  am  content. 

Hoping  that  everything  may  be  auspicious, — blue 
skies,  soft  winds,  enthusiastic  crowds,  and  confident  that 
whatever  be  the  wind  or  weather,  you  will  have  a  glorious, 
a  memorable  meeting,  one  that  will  have  historic  sig- 
nificance, and  thanking  you  again  for  your  kind  letter,  I 
remain,  my  dear  Miss  Alexander,  your  sincere  sister  in 
the  Faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  by  the  saints. 
Affectionately,  with  kind  regards  to  all  who  know  me  over 
there,  Caroline  A.  Soule. 

Glasgow,  Scotland,  August  30,  1903. 


III. — REV.  RICHARD  EDDY,  D.   D.* 

I  REJOICE  in  the  privilege  of  standing  within  these 
walls.    I  have  never  seen  them  before  today,  but  they  have 

1  Remarks  at  the   Winchester   Centennial,   Thursday   morning. 


196  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

been  for  many  years  very  precious  in  my  thought.  I  re- 
member that  within  these  walls  not  only  was  this  Pro- 
fession adopted  one  hundred  years  ago,  but  within  these 
walls — and  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  solemnity  and 
circumstances  of  peculiar  oddity  before  the  service  closed 
— my  dear  teacher  in  theology  and  the  ministry,  Eev.  Dr. 
Sawyer,  was  ordained  in  1829.  Father  Ballou,  who  had 
preached  the  sermon,  sat  down  in  the  front  pew  (I  don't 
know  but  these  are  the  same  pews),  and  I  think  that  it 
was  Joshua  Flagg,  whom  they  didn't  dare  trust  any  other 
part  of  the  service  to  because  he  was  so  intense  a  Jackson 
man,  who  was  to  offer  the  ordaining  prayer.  He  was 
mindful  of  his  opportunity,  and  before  he  got  through 
he  informed  the  Lord  that  Andrew  Jackson  had  been 
elected  president  by  a  majority  of  more  than  two-thirds; 
and  he  prayed,  with  his  hand  upon  Dr.  Sawyer's  head, 
that  he  might  be  as  valiant  in  defending  the  gospel  as 
Andrew  Jackson  had  been  in  defending  the  honor  of 
the  United  States  when  he  defeated  the  British  at  Xew 
Orleans ! 

I  gave  a  great  many  years  of  my  life,  some  of  you 
think,  to  an  attempt  to  gather  the  facts  with  regard  to  our 
history;  and  among  the  most  interesting  and  most  sat- 
isfactory to  myself  were  the  facts  I  gathered  with  regard 
to  the  event  which  we  are  celebrating  today.  You  know 
singular  and  erroneous  traditions  had  prevailed,  and  in 
some  quarters  still  prevail,  with  regard  to  the  occasion 
for  the  adoption  of  the  Winchester  Profession,  and  also 
the  contents  of  the  Profession  itself.  Chief  Justice  Doe, 
to  whom  reference  has  been  made,  was  my  right-hand  man 
in  settling  the  legal  aspects  of  the  case,  and  he  indulged 


LETTERS   AND   RECOLLECTIONS.  197 

me  in  a  correspondence  with  him  which  covered  some 
hundred  and  more  pages  in  his  own  writing  in  explain- 
ing to  me  what  were  the  conditions  legally  that  had  to  be 
met;  and  he  introduced  me  to  Judge  Smith,  of  ]\Iinne- 
sota,  whose  father  had  rendered  the  decision  against  which 
the  Universalists  of  New  Hampshire  were  protesting.  And 
Judge  Smith,  in  sending  me  a  copy  of  his  father's  min- 
utes of  the  trial  and  explaining  what  was  the  real  sig- 
nificance of  his  decision,  said,  "There  could  not  be  any 
bigotry  in  my  father's  decision,  for  he  was  a  Universalist 
himself !" 

I  repeat  what  I  said — I  am  exceedingly  grateful  for 
the  privilege  of  standing  here  on  this  memorable  occasion 
in  response  to  the  invitation  of  the  president  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Convention. 


IV. — HON.    HENRY   B.    METCALF.* 

It  is  very  pleasant  to  me  to  be  accredited  as  on  the 
right  side.  When  the  announcement  was  made  that  there 
were  two  brethren  present,  one  at  the  right  and  one  at 
the  left,  there  was  a  little  appearance  tliat  I  was  the 
man  whom  the  speaker  referred  to  as  on  the  left.  I  made 
my  way  through  the  vestibule  to  tell  him  to  give  my  time 
to  Dr.  Eddy.  I  could  waive  this  opportunity  because 
you  listened  to  me  so  kindly  last  night  at  the  Sunday- 
school  meeting.  It  is  not  everybody  who  is  entitled  to 
two  hearings  on  such  an  occasion  as  this. 

Eeading  over  the  program,  I  knew  what  a  treat 
awaited  all  who  should  come.  If  a  notice  had  been  given 
that  the  good  people  of  Winchester  were  going  to  cele- 
brate the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  adoption  of 

^At  the  Winchester  Centennial,  Thursday  morning. 


198  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

the  Winchester  Profession  of  Belief  and  that  the  men  and 
women  of  this  parish  were  going  to  do  all  the  speaking,  I 
should  have  come  just  the  same.  I  did  not  come  to 
hear  the  speeches;  we  can  hear  speeches  almost  any  time, 
but  we  can  come  to  Winchester  on  the  one  hundredth  an- 
niversary only  once. 

I  don't  know  the  formula  whereby  the  Sons  and 
Daughters  of  the  Eevolution  declare  their  intent  or  pur- 
pose in  organization — I  don't  know  that  it  is  of  any  im- 
portance— but  I  do  believe  that  the  men  and  women  of 
today  who  care  enough  about  the  history  of  their  country 
to  look  up  their  lineage  and  feel  proud  of  their  ancestry 
are  better  men  and  w^omen  and  patriots  for  that  effort. 
I  seldom  visit  Philadelphia  without  finding  a  little  time 
to  go  into  Independence  Hall;  a  very  few  minutes,  per- 
haps, but  I  believe  that  I  am  a  better  citizen  because  of 
that  little  visit.  I  believe  that  the  men  and  women  of 
the  Universalist  Church  who  have  not  been  privileged  to 
be  here  today,  but  who  can  think  about  it  in  the  future 
days,  will  be  stronger  Universalists  because  they  have 
recognized  in  their  own  hearts  their  debt  of  gratitude  to 
the  men  and  women  of  a  hundred  years  ago  who  dared 
to  be  unpopular  in  behalf  of  righteousness. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  be  intimately  acquainted  with 
Hosea  Ballou.  Perhaps  there  are  those  here  who  knew 
some  of  the  others  who  participated  in  the  great  event 
which  we  celebrate.  I  don't  think  I  ever  saw  any  others 
of  the  participants  of  that  occasion,  but  I  was  born  into 
Hosea  Ballou's  church — my  father  and  he  were  bosom 
friends.  He  came  to  my  father  to  recite  his  joys  and  re- 
ceive comfort  in  his  sorrows.    As  a  boy  I  looked  on  him 


LETTERS   AND   RECOLLECTIONS.  199 

with  admiration  and  recognized  his  brightness  and  quick- 
ness and  how  he  always  had  a  reason  for  his  faith.  He 
and  my  father  didn't  agree  politically,  but  it  didn't  make 
any  difference. 

I  met  him  in  the  Sunday-school  when  I  was  a  boy 
and  I  followed  up  the  matter  of  his  relations  to  it.  I 
think  he  had  great  doubts  about  the  wisdom  of  organizing 
a  Sunday-school,  believing  that  the  great  power  of  the 
word  is  in  the  preaching  service,  and  he  feared  that  any 
new  interests  brought  in  would  divert  thought  from  the 
one  service  which  he  considered  most  important.  I  don't 
know  whether  he  was  right  or  not,  but  at  all  events  we 
started  the  Sunday-school,  we  are  committed  to  it,  and  we 
have  got  to  make  it  do  better  service  than  it  does.  I  look 
on  sadly  while  many  of  those  who  go  to  Sunday-school 
do  not  listen  to  the  preaching — and  then  I  think  of  Father 
Ballou. 

Dear  friends,  probably  I  shall  not  visit  Winchester 
again,  but  I  have  been  looking  forward  with  pleasure  to 
this  gathering.  I  am  a  little  disappointed  that  some 
friends  that  I  expected  have  not  come.  We  expected  to 
bring  a  big  delegation  from  Boston,  but  it  looked  like 
too  much  of  an  enterprise  after  vacation  time;  but  there 
is  quite  a  little  party  of  us  from  "Little  Rhody,"  appointed 
by  our  state  convention.  In  behalf  of  Ehode  Island  I  bid 
you  greeting,  and  I  thank  you  for  all  I  have  enjoyed 
today. 


Appendix. 


VARIOUS  COMMEMORATIVE  SERVICES. 

It  is  deemed  that  this  memorial  volume  would  not  be  com- 
plete without  some  record  of  the  local  celebration  in  Winchester 
and  of  the  several  meetings  in  that  place  held  during  the  week 
of  the  anniversary.  It  is  also  thought  proper  to  include  some 
account  of  the  action  at  the  several  State  Conventions  with 
reference  to  the  Centennial.  The  Washington  commemoration 
finds  its  place  in  the  body  of  the  book  with  the  occasional  ser- 
mon of  President  Nash.  The  address  of  President  Capen,  Tues- 
day evening,  on  the  "Progress  of  the  Century,"  was  given  ex- 
tempore. It  was  not  reported  at  the  time  and  has  not  been  re- 
produced in  season  to  appear  in  the  book. 

THE  RHODE  ISLAND  CONVENTION. 

The  first  convention  to  make  formal  recognition  of  the  Cen- 
tennial year  was  that  of  Rhode  Island,  held  June  4,  in  the  Church 
of  the  Messiah,  Providence.  The  coming  anniversary  was  noted 
in  the  address  of  the  President,  Rev.  Henry  Irving  Cushman, 
D.  D.,  and  its  observance  recommended.  The  committee  on 
official  reports  subsequently  commended  the  observance  and  rec- 
ommended that  the  convention  be  represented  at  the  Winchester 
Centennial  in  September ;  also  that  the  executive  committee  be 
empowered  to  appoint  ten  delegates  to  be  clothed  with  all  the 
power  the  convention  itself  could  confer.  These  recommenda- 
tions were  adopted  and  Rhode  Island  was  well  represented  at 
Winchester. 

THE  INDIANA   OBSERVANCE. 

The  Indiana  Convention  held  its  Winchester  celebration  at 
Rome  City  in  connection  with  the  Inter-State  Assembly  of  Uni- 
versalists  held  at  that  place.     The  officers  of  the  convention,  in 

(200) 


APPENDIX.  201 

arranging  the  program,  set  apart  Wednesday,  September  2,  for 
the  anniversary  services  under  the  charge  of  Dr.  J.  S.  Cantwell, 
of  Chicago.  These  were  held  in  the  large  auditorium  of  the 
assembly  grounds  on  Island  Park,  Sylvan  Lake,  and  attracted 
one  of  the  largest  congregations  of  the  series  of  meetings  held 
that  year.  The  choir  of  the  Muncie  church,  assisted  by  selected 
vocalists,  and  the  orchestra  from  New  Madison,  Ohio,  were 
present  and  rendered  valuable  assistance. 

-  The  exercises  began  at  six  thirty  in  the  morning  with  a  devo- 
tional service  conducted  by  Rev.  O.  G.  Colegrove,  of  Ohio.  The 
Winchester  Profession  and  its  religious  significance  was  the  theme 
of  many  of  the  speakers.  At  half  past  ten  o'clock,  after  orchestral 
music  and  appropriate  hymns,  the  historical  address  was  deliv- 
ered. Rev.  Dr.  F.  A.  Bisbee,  of  Boston,  offering  the  prayer.  A 
deep  interest  prevailed,  excellent  attention  being  accorded  the 
speaker  during  the  extended  address. 

In  the  afternoon  another  large  audience  convened.  Dr.  Cant- 
well  again  presiding.  The  paper  on  Universalism  in  the  West 
after  1803  was  read  by  Rev.  J.  A.  Stoner,  of  New  Madison,  Ohio. 
Five-minute  addresses  followed  from  Rev.  A.  H.  Laing,  D.  D., 
and  Rev.  J.  S.  Cook,  D.  D.,  of  Illinois;  Rev.  S.  G.  Ayers  and 
Rev.  O.  G.  Colgrove,  of  Ohio ;  Rev.  G.  I.  Keirn  and  Rev.  Marion 
Crosley,  of  Indiana ;  Rev.  W.  L.  Gibbs,  of  Michigan ;  Hon.  Milton 
Trusler,  Mrs.  Cordelia  A.  Quinby  and  Miss  Flora  B.  Brown. 
The  closing  service  was  a  consecration  meeting  of  thirty  min- 
utes' duration.  Mrs.  L.  W.  Brown  (Aunty  Brown),  of  Akron, 
Ohio,  offered  the  first  prayer  and  Dr.  Atwood  closed  with  a  brief 
address  and  the  benediction.  It  was  a  devout  and  fitting  close  for 
the  exercises  of  the  important  occasion. 

THE  ILLINOIS  COMMEMORATION. 

The  Illinois  Universalist  Convention  assembled  in  sixty-sixth 
annual  session  in  the  city  of  Peoria,  Wednesday,  September  22, 
1903.  The  occasional  sermon,  on  the  previous  Tuesday  evening, 
was  delivered  by  Rev.  Frederic  Clarence  Priest,  D.  D.,  of  the 
Church  of  the  Redeemer,  Chicago,  who  was  born  in  the  old  New 
Hampshire  town  where  the   Profession  of  Belief  was  adopted. 


202  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

The  afternoon  of  the  22d,  the  exact  anniversary  of  the  adoption 
of  the  Profession  in  1803,  was  marked  by  a  service  of  commemo- 
ration. Rev.  Leonard  W.  Brigham  was  in  charge.  After  intro- 
ductory remarks  and  prayer,  Rev.  Messrs.  Edson  Reifsnider, 
John  Hughes  and  Drs.  Laing,  Priest,  Cook  and  Nash  spoke  of 
the  historic  declaration,  its  importance  and  its  unique  character 
and  influence.  Other  remarks  followed  from  Rev.  J.  B.  Fosher, 
Mr.  F.  A.  Winkelman,  Rev.  C.  E.  Varney  and  Mrs.  O.  W.  Nash. 

Reference  having  been  made  to  the  celebration  at  Winchester 
to  be  held  the  following  week,  it  was  voted  to  appoint  "Mes- 
sengers"— as  the  delegates  were  named  in  1803.  Mrs.  Orphia  E. 
Cantwell  and  Mrs.  Augusta  A.  Cooke  were  appointed  as  such 
"messengers." 

THE  LOCAL  CELEBRATION  AT  WINCHESTER. 

Tuesday,  September  22,  1903,  marked  the  hundredth  year 
since  the  adoption  of  the  Profession.  It  was  not  permitted  to 
pass  unnoticed  by  the  Winchester  parish,  even  amid  the  prepara- 
tions for  the  state  and  national  observance  soon  to  follow.  It  was 
recognized  by  the  Winchester  Universalists  by  impressive  services 
throughout  the  day  and  evening  under  the  direction  of  the  pastor, 
Rev.  Clarence  J.  Harris.  At  five  forty-five  the  sunrise  bell  was  rung 
by  Mr.  Willard  Holton  and  continued  for  nearly  an  hour.  The 
people  assembled  in  large  numbers,  and  each  one,  from  the 
youngest  child  to  the  oldest  man  or  woman,  made  the  bell  ring 
by  a  pull  at  the  rope.  This  will  be  a  pleasant  remembrance  for 
many  in  future  years. 

At  nine  thirty  the  exercises  were  in  charge  of  the  Young 
People's  Christian  Union,  and  Miss  J.  Grace  Alexander  and  Mrs. 
J.  A.  Gale  read  special  papers  prepared  for  the  occasion.  Ad- 
dresses were  also  given  by  Messrs.  Henry  Kent,  Park  Weeks  and 
Kirk  Alexander.  Following,  Mr.  Harris  gave  a  sermon  from 
Matt.  VII,  20,  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"  a  review  of 
the  history  of  Universalism,  with  a  glance  at  the  religious  prog- 
ress of  the  hundred  years.  Holy  Communion  followed  the  ser- 
mon. In  the  evening  a  concert  was  given,  the  children  from 
Ashuelot  joining  the  Winchester  children  in  this  exercise. 
"From  five  forty-five  in  the  morning  until  nine  thirty  p.  m.,"  says 


APPENDIX.  203 

Mr.  Harris,  "the  church  was  fairly  alive  with  enthusiasm.  Aged 
people  said  it  was  the  greatest  day  they  remembered  in  the  history 
of  the  church  and  few  anticipated  a  greater  degree  of  the  Divine 
Presence  during  the  Centennial." 

THE  NEW  HAMPSHIRE  CONVENTION. 

The  state  and  national  observance  at  Winchester  was  held 
under  the  auspices  of  the  New  Hampshire  Universalist  Conven- 
tion.   The  officers  are  as  follows: 

President— Rev.   John   Vannever,   Concord. 

Vice-President— Rev.  W.  H.  Trickey,  Claremont. 

Secretary— Mrs.  Mary  D.  Randall,  Woodsville. 

Treasurer— Mr.  A.  W.   Prescott,  Manchester. 

The  above,  together  with  the  following,  constitute  the  exec- 
utive board :  Rev.  S.  H.  M'Collester,  D.  D.,  Marlborough ;  Mr. 
Isaac  M.  Savage,  Concord;  Rev.  G.  L.  Demarest,  D.  D.,  Man- 
chester. This  executive  board,  with  Rev.  Clarence  J.  Harris  and 
Miss  J.  Grace  Alexander,  of  Winchester,  had  charge  of  the 
Centennial  exercises,  held  on  Wednesday  evening  September  30, 
and  Thursday,  October  1. 

Under  the  leadership  of  President  Vannever,  the  board 
planned  wisely  and  wrought  steadily  to  make  the  jubilee  a  suc- 
cess. They  were  ably  assisted  by  Miss  Alexander  and  the  Win- 
chester pastor.  Rev.  Mr.  Harris,  whose  activity  and  enthusiasm 
for  Winchester,  old  and  new,  was  one  of  the  pleasing  features 
of  the  occasion.  All  concerned  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing 
that  their  efforts  are  well  appreciated,  not  alone  in  Wmchester 
and  in  New  Hampshire,  but  also  throughout  the  Universalist 
Church,  among  all  who  were  expecting  that  this  jubilee  occasion 
would  be  made  worthy  of  the  great  event  commemorated. 

AUXILIARY  CONVENTIONS. 

The  auxiliary  bodies  of  the  New  Hampshire  Convention, 
consisting  of  the  Sunday  School  Convention  and  the  Young  Peo- 
ple's Christian  Union  of  the  state,  held  their  annual  meeting  at 
Winchester  on  Tuesday,  September  29.  Hon.  Hosea  W.  Parker, 
of  Claremont,  was  the  President  of  the  Sunday  School  Conven- 
tion, and  Rev.  Fenwick  L.  Leavitt,  of  Woodsville,  the  President 


204  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

of  the  Y.  P.  C.  U.  The  officers  elected  at  this  session  are  the 
officials  of  the   Centennial  year: 

Sunday  School  Convention:  President,  Hon.  H.  W. 
Parker,  Claremont;  Vice-President,  Miss  Clara  Woodman,  Kings- 
ton; Secretary,  Mrs.  N.  C.  Jewitt,  Marlborough;  Treasurer,  Miss 
J.  Grace  Alexander,  Winchester. 

Y.  P.  C.  U. :  President,  Rev.  M.  L.  Cutler,  East  Jaffrey; 
Vice-President,  Miss  Edith  Vaughn,  Manchester;  Secretary,  Miss 
Abbie  P.  Luce,  Claremont;  Treasurer,  Mr.  Will  D.  Hutchinson, 
Concord.  Members  at  Large:  Rev.  F.  L.  Leavitt,  Miss  Hattie 
G.  Hills,  Nashua,  and  Miss  Mary  E.  Fogg,  Gorham. 

Tuesday  evening.  Rev.  Vincent  E.  Tomlinson,  D.  D.,  of 
Worcester,  Mass.,  present  by  invitation  for  this  service,  delivered 
the  occasional  discourse  before  the  Y.  P.  C.  U.  His  subject  was 
"Enrichment  of  Life,"  and  text,  "I  am  come  that  ye  might  have  life 
and  have  it  more  abundantly."  (1  John  X,  10.)  The  discourse 
made  appropriate  reference  to  the  centennial  occasion  and  the 
great  work  of  the  Fathers,  urging  the  young  people  to  remember 
the  devotion  and  heroism  of  the  old  days. 

THE  CONVENTION. 
Wednesday,  September  30,  the  annual  session  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Convention  was  held,  Rev.  John  Vannever,  the  Presi- 
dent, in  the  chair  at  all  sessions  and  Mrs.  Mary  D.  Randall,  sec- 
retary. The  regular  business  of  the  convention  was  transacted 
as  already  reported  in  the  denominational  press. 

THE    woman's    centenary    ASSOCIATION. 

The  morning  session  was  devoted  to  the  W.  C.  A.  Rev. 
Nancy  W.  P.  Smith,  president  of  the  state  organization,  presided, 
and,  after  devotional  exercises,  addressed  the  meeting  on  the 
work  of  the  women  of  the  church  in  New  Hampshire.  The 
executive  board  of  the  National  W.  C.  A.  had  called  a  meet- 
ing for  Winchester  and  several  of  the  members  were  present 
and  made  addresses.  They  were  given  pre-eminence  in  what  fol- 
lowed. Mrs.  Cordelia  A.  Quinby,  honorary  president,  gave  par- 
ticulars of  the  work  of  the  Mission  Circles  and  other  interesting 
features  of  the  W.   C.  A.     Mrs.  Z.   E.   Harris,  of  Watertown, 


APPENDIX.  205 

N.  Y.,  brought  greetings  from  her  state  and  spoke  on  "The  Mis- 
sionary Spirit  as  Essential  in  the  Christian  Church."  One  of 
the  Connecticut  delegates  discussed  briefly  "Some  Things 
Done."  Rev.  Augusta  J.  Chapin,  D.  D.,  gave  a  resume  of  the 
history  of  the  National  W.  C.  A.  and  explained  the  proposed 
Church  Building  Fund.  Rev.  Isabella  McDuff,  of  Berlin,  N.  H, 
followed  with  a  fine  address  on  the  "Present  Need,"  which  she 
mterpreted  as  the  development  of  a  greater  spirituality  in  the 
church,  and  Mrs.  Gertrude  Rugg  Field,  of  Providence,  R.  I., 
read  an  original  poem  on  the  Japan  Mission. 

At  this  session  the  letters  were  read  from  Rev.  James  Shrig- 
ley,  D.  D.,  and  Rev.  Caroline  A.  Soule,  which  appear  under  the 
caption,  "Letters  and  Recollections." 

In  the  afternoon  the  occasional  sermon  before  the  State 
Convention  was  given  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Trickey,  and  was  listened 
to  by  a  large  and  attentive  congregation  as  the  able  speaker 
enforced  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  Universalists  of 
the  state  in  the  second  century  of  the  Winchester  Profession. 
The  Holy  Communion  was  administered  after  the  sermon,  Rev. 
Mr.  Harris  and  Rev.  A.  Eugene  Bartlett,  of  Manchester,  officiating 
at  the  table. 

THE  CENTENNIAL  OPENS. 

The  services  of  the  Centennial  anniversary  opened  Wednes- 
day evening,  the  Vice-President  of  the  State  Convention,  Rev. 
W.  H.  Trickey,  presiding. 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  evening's  service  was  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  memorial  pipe  organ.  After  the  rendering  of  several 
selections  on  the  new  instrument  by  Prof.  W.  J.  Short,  of  Keene, 
Mrs.  Frank  E.  Leonard,  in  behalf  of  the  Young  People's  Aid 
Society,  formally  presented  the  organ  to  the  church  in  com- 
memoration of  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  adoption  of 
the  Profession.  Mrs.  Leonard  then  attached  to  the  organ  a  gold 
plate,  itself  a  gift,  recording  the  purpose  of  the  memorial.  The 
pastor,  Rev.  Clarence  J.  Harris,  offered  the  dedicatory  prayer, 
consecrating  the  instrument  to  the  spiritual  interests  of  the 
church.  Mrs.  Persis  Hutchins  and  Mr.  Frank  E.  Leonard  fol- 
lowed  with   an   impressive   duet,    "Rock   of   Ages."     Following 


206  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

the  dedication  of  the  organ,  and  prayer  by  Rev.  H.  Gertrude 
Roscoe,  the  General  Superintendent,  Rev.  I.  M.  Atwood,  D.  D., 
was  introduced  and  gave  his  address  on  the  "Spiritual  Side  of 
Universalism." 

THE  CENTENNIAL  DAY. 

Thursday,  October  1,  was  the  day  of  the  more  formal  anni- 
versary exercises  and  no  more  beautiful  day  ever  dawned  on  the 
New  Hampshire  hills.  The  portals  of  the  old  meeting-house 
were  draped  in  the  colors  of  the  Y.  P.  C.  U.,  and  its  beautiful 
situation,  facing  the  village  green,  with  the  mountain  rising  be- 
hind it,  and  the  upper  terraces  with  their  noble  trees,  clothed  in 
the  crimson  and  golden  hues  of  the  early  autumn,  presented  a 
picture  worthy  of  any  artist. 

The  auditorium,  with  its  finely  colored  memorial  windows,  in- 
scribed with  the  names  of  Ballou,  Whittemore  and  Chapin,  the 
autumn  drapery  of  the  young  maples  on  each  side  of  the  plat- 
form with  the  floral  decorations  of  the  communion  table,  on  which 
rested  the  original  draft  of  the  Winchester  Profession,  framed 
in  flowers  by  the  young  ladies,  presented  a  scene  that  will  not 
soon  fade  from  remembrance.  The  memorial  window  in  the 
rear  of  the  pulpit,  with  the  figure  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  radiant 
in  glowing  colors,  was  in  full  view  of  the  congregation  and  for 
the  thoughtful  had  a  special  lesson.  In  the  decoration  of  this 
window  the  dates  "1803" — "1903"  were  placed  in  evergreen  on 
the  frame  over  the  figure.  As  thus  arranged,  the  years  were 
suggestive.  The  Christ  looked  in  the  direction  of  the  past — 1803 
— but  the  upraised  hand  pointed  at  the  same  time  to  1903.  It  was 
as  if  the  present  and  the  future  were  to  be  remembered  along 
with  the  honorable  past.  The  conjunction  of  the  dates  revealed 
at  a  glance  the  purpose  of  the  entire  memorial  observance.  Honor 
1803,  but  remember  also  1903,  with  its  new  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities to  the  church  and  faith  of  the  fathers. 

The  conference  meeting  on  Thursday  morning  was  con- 
ducted by  Rev.  Willard  C.  Selleck,  D.  D.,  of  Providence,  R.  I., 
who  acted  as  student  pastor  at  Winchester  during  the  summer 
vacations  of  1879  and  1880.  The  devotional  exercises  consisted 
of  the  singing  of  hymn  No.  209,  "God  is  love ;  His  mercy  bright- 


APPENDIX.  207 

ens,"  the  reading  of  a  part  of  the  first  chapter  of  II  Peter, 
prayer,  the  recitation  of  the  Winchester  Profession  by  the  entire 
congregation,  standing,  and  the  singing  of  Father  Ballou's  hymn, 
"Jesus  his  empire  shall  extend."  Dr.  Selleck's  address  forms 
part  of  this  volume. 

The  Convention  President,  Rev.  John  Vannever,  presided 
throughout  the  day  and  evening.  The  address  of  Hon.  Hosea 
W.  Parker  came  first  on  the  program  after  the  solo  by  Miss  Julia 
Fay,  of  Keene.  The  President  then  introduced  Rev.  Richard 
Eddy,  D.  D.,  the  historian  of  the  church,  and  Hon.  Henry  B. 
Metcalf,  of  Rhode  Island,  as  two  men  whose  presence  was  highly 
appreciated  and  who  should  be  heard  on  the  Centennial  platform. 
Their  remarks,  slenographically  reported,  appear  in  this  book. 
The  address  of  Rev.  John  Coleman  Adams,  D.  D.,  on  "The 
New  Test  of  Faith,"  closed  the  morning  hour. 

Previous  to  the  regular  service  of  the  afternoon,  a  baptismal 
service  was  conducted  by  Rev.  A.  J.  Patterson,  D.  D.,  of  Boston, 
when  the  two  infant  children  of  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Clarence  J.  Harris 
were  dedicated:  Malcom  Mason  Harris,  born  June  18,  1900; 
Ida  Caroline  Harris,  born  January  16,  1902.  The  service  then 
proceeded  according  to  the  program,  Rev.  J.  M.  Pullman,  D.  D.,* 
giving  the  "Exposition  of  Universalism"  and  Rev.  Mr.  Harris 
speaking  on  "The  Winchester  of  Today."  This  was  followed  by 
a  financial  interlude,  started  by  Mr.  Metcalf  and  administered 
from  the  platform  by  Dr.  Cantwell,  resulting  in  a  popular  sub- 
scription of  $550  for  the  memorial  parsonage  of  the  Winchester 
church.  The  historical  address  was  the  last  on  the  afternoon 
program. 

The  closing  service  of  the  Centennial  was  held  in  the  even- 
ing at  eight  o'clock  and  embraced  Dr.  M'Collester's  review  of 
"Ministerial  Ground"  and  the  sermon  of  Dr.  Bisbee  on  "The 
Old  and  the  New,"  given  then  only  in  outline  on  account  of  the 
lateness  of  the  hour,  but  presented  complete  in  this  volume.  Rev. 
R.  Perry  Bush,  of  Chelsea,  Mass.,  ofifered  the  prayer  preceding 
the  sermon. 

•.^s  these  pages   are  made  ready  for  the   press  Dr.    Pullman's   sudden 
death  is  announced.     He  passed  away  at  his  home  in  Lynn,  Mass.,  Sunday 

Nov.  22.  ' 


208  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

It  was  a  happy  day  for  old  Winchester  and  its  numerous 
guests.  The  new  organ  sounded  forth  its  joyful  notes  as  Father 
Ballou's  hymn  "In  God's  Eternity"  was  sung  and  also  in  the 
Centennial  hymn.  Everything  conspired  to  render  the  occasion 
memorable,  not  alone  as  the  first  centennial  of  the  Profession, 
but  also  for  the  admirable  manner  in  which  the  program  was  car- 
ried out  and  the  spirit  which  prevailed  during  the  entire  ob- 
servance. 

All  the  surroundings,  the  crowded  church,  the  fine  music, 
the  sweet  tones  of  the  memorial  organ,  the  jubilant  words  of  the 
centennial  hymn,  written  by  the  pastor,  sung  to  the  old  Portu- 
gese air,  with  the  devout  words  of  praise  and  prayer,  amid  the 
memories  of  the  hundred  years,  these  must  be  left  to  the  imagina- 
tion ;  they  can  not  be  presented  in  any  review  of  the  occasion.  It 
may  be  noted  also  that  it  was  a  Winchester  celebration  as  well  as 
a  Universalist  observance.  The  ancient  town  welcomed  the  oc- 
casion and  its  visitors  with  cordial  hospitality.  Everywhere 
"Winchester,  1803"  was  in  evidence.  The  business  houses 
adorned  their  windows  with  pictures  of  the  old  church  and  hung 
out  flags  inscribed  "Welcome — 1803 — 1903,"  and  many  of  the 
homes  of  the  people  were  draped  in  honor  of  the  occasion.  The 
historic  significance  of  the  celebration  was  everywhere  manifest. 
Winchester  honored  itself  in  the  way  in  which  it  honored  the 
notable  anniversary  and  the  event  with  which  its  name  has  been 
associated  for  one  hundred  years. 

The  following  33  ministers  were  present :  I.  M.  Atwood, 
J.  C.  Adams,  V.  E.  Tomlinson,  W.  C.  Selleck,  F.  A.  Bisbee, 
Richard  Eddy,  A.  J.  Patterson,  S.  H.  M'Collester,  J.  S.  Cantwell, 
John  Vannevar,  A.  W.  Blackford,  Geo.  L.  Thompson,  A.  F. 
Walch,  W.  W.  Hooper,  J.  M.  Pullman,  R.  Perry  Bush,  G.  A. 
Kratzer,  C.  M.  Andrews,  E.  A.  Hoyt,  F.  W.  Whippen,  A.  E. 
Bartlett,  Nancy  W.  P.  Smith,  Isabella  S.  McDufif,  Tom  Roscoe, 
H.  Gertrude  Roscoe,  W.  H.  Trickey,  C.  F.  Mclntire,  M.  L.  Cut- 
ler, F.  L.  Leavitt,  B.  C.  Ruggles,  Augusta  J.  Chapin,  C.  F.  An- 
drews and  W.  S.  Turner. 


AT  BALLOU'S  BIRTHPLACE. 
Notwithstanding    the    rain    of   the    previous    night    and    the 
clouds  of  the  early  morning,  Friday,  October  2,  fifty  or  sixty 


APPENDIX.  209 

people  ventured  to  take  the  ten-mile  drive  over  the  hills  from 
Winchester,  and  many  others  came  from  near-by  towns.  The 
attendance  was  good,  and  the  spirit  manifested  was  in  keeping 
with  that  throughout  the  exercises  at  Winchester,  and  worthy 
of  the  occasion.    There  were  eight  speakers. 

After  a  brief  introduction,  the  Rev.  William  H.  Trickey, 
vice-president  of  the  New  Hampshire  Convention,  recalled 
Father  Ballou's  unique  services.  Rev.  Clarence  J.  Harris,  of 
Winchester,  offered  prayer,  and  with  a  goblet  of  water  from  the 
Ballou  well  conducted  an  impressive  service  of  dedication  of 
the  memorial  stone,  erected  in  September,  marking  Father  Bal- 
lou's birthplace.  Mrs.  Gertrude  Rugg  Field,  of  Providence, 
R.  I.,  gave  an  admirable  rendering  of  Father  Ballou's  verses : 

BALLOU'S  DELL. 

There  are  no  hills  in  Hampshire  new. 

No  valleys  half  so  fair, 
As  those  which  spread  before  the  view 

In  merry  Richmond,  where 
I  first  my  mortal  race  began, 

And  passed  my  youthful  days; 
Where  first  I  saw  the  golden  sun 

And  felt  his  warming  rays. 

There  is  no  spot  in  Richmond  where 

Fond  memory  loves  to  dwell, 
As  on  the  globe  outspreading  there 

In  Ballou's  blithesome  Dell; 
There  are  no  birds  that  sing  so  sweet 

As  those  upon  the  spray, 
Where,  from  the  brow  of  Grassy  Hill, 

Comes  forth  the  morning  ray. 

Unnumbered  flowers,  the  pride  of  spring, 

Are  born  to  flourish  there. 
And  round  them  mellow  odors  fling 

Through  all  the  ambient  air. 
There  purling  springs  have  charms  for  me 

That  vulgar  brooks  ne'er  give, 
And  winds  breathe  sweeter  down  the  lea 

Than  where  magnolias  live! 


210  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Rev.  Mr.  Seward  (Unitarian),  of  Keene ;  Rev.  George  L. 
Thompson,  of  Springfield;  Rev.  A.  N.  Blackford,  of  North 
Orange,  Mass.;  Rev.  Glenn  A.  Kratzer,  of  Fitchburg,  all  gave 
brief  addresses  highly  appreciative  of  Father  Ballou's  character 
and  the  preparation  he  must  have  made  there  for  the  great 
work  which  he  accomplished  in  early  life.  The  venerable 
Wallace  Ball,  of  Winchester,  brought  out  a  melodeon  and  led 
in  the  singing  of  "Home,  Sweet  Home."  "In  God's  Eternity," 
and  the  Doxology. 

The  place  of  meeting  was  on  the  lawn,  a  few  rods  to  the 
left  of  the  house,  under  the  ancient  maples,  on  the  spot  where 
Hosea  Ballou  was  born,  April  30,  1771,  and  directly  back  of 
the  memorial  stone  above  referred  to. 

This  stone  is  of  fine  granite,  five  feet  two  inches  by  twenty 
inches  wide  and  five  inches  thick,  and  somewhat  larger  at 
the  base,  and  bears  this  inscription : 

Birthplace  of 
Hosea  Ballou, 

1771. 
Erected  1903. 

Here  was  the  homestead  of  the  Rev.  Maturin  Ballou,  the 
first  settled  minister  of  Richmond.  The  farm  comprises  180 
acres,  now  for  the  most  part  heavily  wooded,  and  extending 
from  the  valley  southeastward  to  the  summit  of  Grassy  Hill. 
Rev.  Maturin  Ballou  was  of  rugged  French  Huguenot  stock,  a 
great-grandson  of  the  immigrant  ancestor  of  the  same  name, 
and  a  Baptist  in  faith. 

After  preaching  fifteen  years  in  Rhode  Island,  he  bought 
this  farm  in  1767.  Beside  his  purchase,  he  received  title,  as 
the  first  settled  minister  of  Richmond,  to  two  other  tracts  of 
land,  one  adjoining  Winchester,  the  other  near  the  border  line 
of  Warwick,  Mass.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  while  as  a  Baptist 
minister  he  would  not  have  been  entitled  to  these  lands  under 
the  usual  charter  making  the  grant — as  in  the  charter  of  Win- 
chester— ^to  "a  learned  orthodox  minister,"  that  is  ofl  the 
"standing  order,"  both  the  Massachusetts  charter  of  the  town, 
granted  to   Major  James    Warren   and   associates   in   1735   and 


APPENDIX.  211 

the  New  Hampshire  charter  of  1752  use  simply  the  words 
"the  first  settled  minister."  Here  Hosea,  youngest  of  eleven 
children,  was  born  four  years  later.  Here,  in  1773,  the  mother, 
Lydia  Harris  Ballou,  died,  and  here,  in  1804,  the  father,  Rev. 
Maturin  Ballou,  passed  away. 

Six  years  ago  some  of  their  descendants  had  their  graves 
marked  by  a  modest  stone  in  the  near-by  graveyard — a  spot 
which  their  youngest  son  often  revisited. 

It  is  nearly  a  century  since  Rev.  Maturin  Ballou's  home- 
stead— now  the  summer  home  of  Mr.  Holbrook,  of  Fitchburg — 
passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Ballou  family.  Still,  as  his 
great-great-grandson,  and  the  only  lineal  descendant  present,  it 
became  the  duty  of  Hosea  Starr  Ballou,  of  Boston,  to  extend 
a  welcome  to  the  pilgrims  and  to  conduct  the  formal  exer- 
cises. 

To  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  they  all  wished  to 
turn  back  the  wheels  of  time  and  picture  jn  imagination  the 
place  as  it  was  a  century  or  more  ago.  Then  the  town  of 
Richmond  was,  with  one  exception,  the  most  populous  town 
in  Cheshire  county — larger  than  Winchester,  and  larger  even 
than  Keene.  It  was  a  new  town;  the  brooks  were  full  of 
fish  and  the  forest  full  of  large  game  to  invite  the  attention 
of  the  bright,  active  boy.  Most  of  the  fish  and  game  now 
are  gone.  Only  the  hills  and  distant  Monadnock  remain  the 
same.  Most  of  the  farms  in  the  town  are  deserted,  and  the 
nearest  school-house  has  been  sold  for  lack  of  children. 

To  take  a  closer  view,  the  huge  timbers  of  the  original 
house  are  in  the  house  still  standing  on  the  farm,  and  the 
marks  of  the  broadaxe  on  the  timbers  in  the  barn  fix  it  as 
a  relic  of  early  days.  The  corn-house  and  the  cider  mill  have 
long  since  disappeared,  but  the  large  orchards  on  both  sides 
of  the  highway  the  pilgrims  could  still  trace  by  the  gnarled 
trunks  of  scores  of  apple  trees  fully  a  century  old.  The  clear, 
cold  water  from  the  deep  well  is  the  same  as  it  was  when 
Hosea  Ballou  passed  his  boyhood  on  the  farm.  He  made 
frequent  visits  here  to  his  aged  father,  especially  the  eight 
years,  ending  in  1803,  after  he  married  and  settled  in  the 
near-by  town  of  Dana,  Mass. 


212  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

After  a  collation,  other  points  of  interest  in  Richmond 
were  visited.  Among  these  are  the  birthplace  and  early  home 
of  Elizabeth  Ballou  Garfield,  mother  of  the  late  President  Gar- 
field, and  the  home  of  Silas  Ballou,  the  first  hymnologist  of 
our   denomination. 

Standing  by  the  memorial  stone,  Eva  J.  Stickney,  of  Ches- 
ter, Vt.,  penned  the  following  lines : 

Pilgrims  shall  come  with  loyal  pride 
To  stand  this  humble  stone  beside, 

As  years  pass  swiftly  by; 
And  as  they  read  this  honored  name, 
A  nobler  purpose,  loftier  aim, 

'iheir  lives  shall  vivify. 

It  was  an  inspiring  occasion,  and  a  fitting  end  of  the  cen- 
tennial celebration  at  Winchester. 

FINAL    SERVICES    IN     ASHUELOT. 

After  the  services  in  Richmond,  Friday,  the  visitors  and 
friends  held  a  final  service  in  the  hall  in  Ashuelot,  which  was  the 
gift  of  Daniel  Hawkins  and  erected  in  1828.  It  was  in  this  hall 
that  the  first  Universalist  church  was  formed  in  that  section  of 
the  state.  Through  the  generous  beneficence  of  Mrs.  Julia  B. 
Thayer,  of  Keene,  the  hall  has  been  renovated  and  is  now  used 
regularly. 

Rev.  W.  H.  Trickey  opened  the  services  and  gave  a  most 
inspiring  address.  This  was  followed  by  a  most  pleasing  talk 
by  W.  J.  Litchfield,  of  Southbridge,  Mass.,  and  a  brief  address  by 
the  pastor,  Rev.  C.  J.  Harris.  Rev.  Mr.  Trickey  closed  the 
service  with  a  benediction. 


THE  GENERAL  CONVENTION  OF  1803.     • 

NOTE   FROM    HOSEA    STARR    BALLOU. 

Hosea  Starr  Ballou,  the  biographer  of  Hosea  Ballou  2d, 
who  has  given  the  Universalist  Church  in  this  biography  one 
of  the  most  valuable  compends  of  our  early  Universalist  history 
and  who  was  instrumental  in  the  erection  of  the  Ballou  memorial 


APPENDIX.  213 

at  Richmond,  and  presided  on  the  occasion,  in  a  note  to  the  com- 
piler of  this  volume,  gives  the  following  interesting  facts, 
which  will  be  of  interest  to  all  readers : 

"I  regret  it  was  not  feasible  to  make  a  pilgrimage,  also, 
to  the  adjoining  hill-town  of  Warwick,  Mass.  I'here  Caleb 
Rich,  with  his  brother,  Nathaniel  Rich,  and  Joseph  Goodell  (my 
grandfather  two  removes)  established  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years  ago,  a  regularly  organized  religious  society,  which  was, 
I  believe,  the  first  in  this  country  to  firmly  protest  against  the 
doctrine  of  everlasting  punishment.  If  at  the  outset  they  seized 
upon  the  theory  of  annihilation,  it  was  only  a  temporary  step 
to  the  firmly  established  platform  of  Universal  Salvation,  and  one 
of  the  members  of  the  Warwick  society,  you  will  note,  was 
Ebenezer  Cheney  (also  my  grandfather  two  removes),  whose 
name  stands  first  in  the  list  of  laymen  in  attendance  on  the 
convention  at  Winchester  in  1803. 

"Indeed  the  laymen  in  that  convention  appears,  so  far  as 
I  can  learn,  to  have  represented  a  high  type  of  citizenship. 
Ebenezer  Cheney,  of  Orange,  Mass.,  his  older  brother,  Wales 
Cheney,  of  Milford,  Mass.,  Samuel  Williams,  of  Hartland, 
Vt.,  George  Simmons,  of  Woodstock,  and  several  others  in  the 
list  were  leading  men  in  civil  affairs  in  their  respective  towns. 

"I  listened  to  your  historical  address  with  deep  interest 
and  feel  sure  that  the  'Winchester  Book'  will  prove  a  valued 
souvenir  of  the  Centennial  celebration." 


THE  FIVE  PRINCIPLES  OF  UNIVERSALISM. 

Alternate  Declaration  of  the  Convention  of  1899. 

At  the  biennial  session  of  the  Universalist  General  Conven- 
tion, held  in  Boston,  Mass.,  October  20-25,  1899,  the  law  govern- 
ing fellowship  in  the  Church  was  amended  and  Five  Principles 
of  Faith  adopted  as  an  alternate  or  supplementary  declaration 
to  the  Winchester  Profession.  (See  page  36,  Historical  address.) 
The  conditions  of  fellowship  as  amended  are  as  follows: 

1.  The  acceptance  of  the  essential  principles  of  the  Uni- 
versalist Faith,  to-wit:   (1)   The  Universal  Fatherhood  of  God; 


214  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

(2)  The  Spiritual  authority  and  leadership  of  His  Son,  Jesus 
Christ;  (3)  The  trustworthiness  of  the  Bible  as  containing  a  reve- 
lation from  God;  (4)  The  certainty  of  just  retribution  for  sin; 
(5)  The  final  harmony  of  all  souls  with  God. 

The  Winchester  Profession  is  commended  as  containing  these 
principles,  but  neither  this  nor  any  other  precise  form  of  words 
is  required  as  a  condition  of  fellowship,  provided  always  that 
the  principles  above  stated  be  professed. 

2.  The  acknowledgment  of  the  authority  of  the  General 
Convention  and  assent  to  its  laws. 


PRESS  NOTICES  OF  THE  CENTENNIAL. 
Christian  Register,  Boston: 

One  hundred  years  ago — namely,  September  22,  1803 — the 
Winchester  Profession  of  Belief  was  adopted  in  the  town  in 
New  Hampshire  from  which  it  takes  its  name.  During  all  the 
years  since,  this  statement  has  been  the  principal  standard  of 
Universalism.  At  the  beginning  there  were  many  differences  of 
opinion  among  the  leaders ;  but  gradually  a  dominant  type  of 
thought  was  accepted,  and  old  phases  of  thought  passed  away 
and  were  forgotten.  In  later  times  Universalists  have  shared  in 
the  general  loosening  of  bands  and  the  movement  of  thought 
which  is  bringing  together  what,  from  the  liberal  point  of  view, 
seems  to  be  the  better  elements  in  all  the  churches.  The  visit  of 
Rev.  R.  J.  Campbell  to  this  country,  and  his  open  avowal  that, 
while  he  calls  himself  an  evangelical  Christian,  he  is  a  Univer- 
salist  in  belief,  is  a  sign  of  the  times  which  may  well  encourage 
those  who  call  themselves  by  that  name  to  go  forward  for  another 
hundred  years,  in  the  hope  and  belief  that,  when  the  second  cen- 
tennial celebration  comes,  there  will  no  longer  be  need  of 
denying  creeds  of  fear. 

The  Outlook  (New  York),  Oct.  17: 

In  the  old  church  in  the  little  town  of  Winchester,  in  the 
southwestern  corner  of  New  Hampshire,  the  Bethlehem  of  the 
Universalist    denomination,    the    centennial    of   the    "Winchester 


APPENDIX.  215 

Profession"  was  celebrated  October  1.  Here  in  1803  the  dele- 
gates of  thirty-eight  societies,  all  New  Englanders  but  two,  or- 
ganized a  new  religious  body  upon  the  doctrinal  basis  known 
as  "the  Winchester  Profession,"  undeservedly  omitted  from  Dr. 
Schaff's  standard  work,  "The  Creeds  of  Christendom."  Win- 
chester was  long  the  favorite  rendezvous  of  the  new  organization ; 
five  times  in  thirty  years  it  assembled  here.  The  proximate 
cause  of  the  "Profession,"  it  should  be  said,  was  not  theological 
but  economical.  In  the  union  of  State  and  Church  which  then 
still  prevailed,  the  support  of  "the  standing  order"  of  religion 
was  undertaken  by  each  town.  Dissenters  belonging  to  unrecog- 
nized denominations  were  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  estab- 
lished church.  Universalists  were  thus  constrained  to  organiza- 
tion, and  two  years  later  were  exempted  from  the  town-church 
tax  as  "a  distinct  denomination  with  privileges  as  such."  *  *  * 
It  should  be  added  that  the  Winchester  Profession  has  never  been 
changed.  It  still  stands,  with  a  supplement  in  the  Chicago  Decla- 
ration of  1899,  which  commends  it  as  containing  the  essential  prin- 
ciples of  the  Universalist  faith,  and  conditions  fellowship  upon 
profession  of  these  principles,  but  "neither  (upon)  this  nor  any 
other  precise  form  of  words  " 

Boston  Herald,  Sept.  20. 

Just  a  century  ago — September,  1803 — there  was  a  call  for  a 
general  convention  of  Universalists,  to  be  held  in  Winchester,  N. 
H.,  a  lovely  little  town  nestling  down  in  the  lap  of  the  beautiful 
Ashuelot  valley,  in  which  there  was  a  large  and  flourishing  parish 
with  a  good  meeting-house,  capable  of  accommodating  the  conven- 
tion. Among  the  many  who  came  was  the  young  Hosea  Ballou, 
who  had  already  been  ordained  as  a  Universalist  clergyman,  and 
at  that  time  had  a  parish  in  Vermont  covering  the  townships  of 
Woodstock,  Hartland,  Bethel  and  Barnard,  with  a  residence  in 
Barnard. 

Although  he  was  only  just  past  thirty,  and  there  were  men 
present  who  were  older  in  years  and  service  than  he,  yet  he  was 
the  leading  spirit  of  the  convention,  and  his  enthusiasm  and  good 
will  carried  it  along  to  a  successful  ending.  A  "Confession  of 
Faith"  was  adopted,  which  has  been  the  acknowledged  declaration 


216  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

of  principles  of  the  denomination  ever  since,  and  has  been  known 
as  "the  Winchester  Profession." 

The  town  was  always  a  stronghold  of  Universalism,  and  no- 
where would  those  professing  its  faith  and  seeking  to  widen  its 
influence  have  found  a  more  cordial  welcome  than  they  found 
here.  And  today  the  little  town  is  once  more  the  center  of  inter- 
est to  the  members  of  the  denomination,  because  the  centenary  of 
the  Profession  is  being  celebrated,  and  all  the  followers  of  Murray 
and  Ballou  have  their  eyes  turned  thither. 

Nestled  among  the  foothills  of  the  Monadnock,  set  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  beautiful  Cheshire  county,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ashue- 
lot  river,  Winchester  remains  what  it  always  has  been — one  of  the 
prettiest,  most  typical  of  all  the  New  England  inland  towns.  Then, 
as  now,  September  was  the  banner  month  of  the  year  for  beauty. 
Lovely  as  the  place  is  in  the  first  freshness  of  spring,  when  the 
faint  tints  of  green  show  on  the  hills,  or  in  the  luxuriance  of  sum- 
mer when  gardens  are  rioting  in  bloom  and  the  waysides  are  lined 
with  wild  flowers,  it  is  still  more  lovely  in  the  early  autumn  days, 
when  the  hills  begin  to  put  on  the  brilliant  coloring  that  marks  the 
waning  year. 

Even  in  August  the  maples  flung  out  an  occasional  flag  of 
defiance  and  a  branch  here  and  there  burned  crimson  under  the 
summer  sun,  but  it  is  in  September  when  everything  is  a  blaze  of 
glory,  the  pines  and  firs,  the  hemlocks  and  greens,  making  a  most 
eflfective  background  for  the  crimson  of  the  maple,  the  scarlet  of 
the  sumach,  the  yellow  and  gold  of  the  birch,  beech  and  elm,  and 
the  bronze  and  russet  of  the  oaks.  This  year  the  foliage  is  espe- 
cially brilliant,  as  if  nature  herself  were  assisting  in  making  the 
centennial  celebration  as  bright  as  possible. 

The   Universalist  Leader,  Oct.   17. 

It  was  a  great  achievement  for  the  little  town  of  Winchester 
to  arrange  and  carry  through  so  great  an  enterprise  to  so  complete 
and  gratifying  a  success.  Something  of  the  spirit  of  the  Fathers 
who  a  century  ago  wrought  righteousness  into  word  in  that  same 
place,  must  abide  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  To  these  people 
must  first  be  given  credit  for  making  a  new  contribution  to  our 
denominational  life  in  reviving  an  interest  in  the  more  weighty 


APPENDIX.  217 

things  of  the  faith  once  delivered  unto  the  saints  and  by  them  de- 
livered unto  us. 

The  only  regret  associated  in  any  way  with  this  Centennial 
celebration  comes  of  the  absence  of  many  of  our  people  and  espe- 
cially of  our  ministers.  It  was  not  only  their  loss ;  it  was  a  loss 
to  our  whole  church  for  them  to  miss  such  an  opportunity  to  en- 
rich their  hearts  and  minds  with  the  wealth  of  blessed  memory  and 
the  chance  to  study  some  of  the  important  steps  by  which  our 
Fathers  brought  to  us  an  inheritance  of  religious  liberty  and  prog- 
ress. A  minister  high  in  the  service  of  our  church,  who  had  no 
part  in  the  program,  but  who  came  as  a  devout  pilgrim  to  this 
sacred  altar,  said :  "This  occasion  has  been  more  to  me  than  any 
other  I  recall  in  my  connection  with  the  church ;  I  would  not 
have  missed  it  for  ten  times  the  cost." 

The  program  was  excellent  and  every  speaker  appreciated  the 
honor  and  importance  of  the  occasion  and  made  careful  prepara- 
tion. The  real  worth  of  these  addresses  can  not  be  estimated  by 
the  brief  abstracts  published,  but  we  are  assured  that  they  are  to 
be  put  in  permanent  form  at  once,  together  with  other  matters 
connected  with  the  Centennial,  and  that  out  of  this  Centennial 
observance  will  come  a  book  which  will  be  a  valuable  contribution 
to  our  literature. 

Springfield  (Mass.)  Republican,  Oct.  4. 

The  centennial  of  the  Winchester  Profession  of  Faith  is  a 
thing  of  the  past  and  the  quiet  little  town  of  Winchester,  on  the 
banks  of  the  picturesque  little  Ashuelot  river,  has  gone  back  to 
the  monotony  of  its  daily  routine  with  a  feeling  of  satisfaction, 
for  the  people  of  the  village  received  the  visiting  Universalists  in 
a  true  spirit  of  hospitality,  and  they  know  that  their  efforts  were 
fully  appreciated.  The  Centennial  observance  came  yesterday  as 
a  fitting  climax  to  a  successful  state  convention.  Many  delegates 
attended  this  and  a  majority  remained  for  the  exercises  which  fol- 
lowed, and  their  number  was  greatly  augmented  by  visitors  from 
Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island.  Some  of 
the  best  known  Universalist  speakers  in  the  country  have  been 
here  and  have  made  interesting  addresses  on  topics  near  to  the 
Universalist  belief,  and  the  men  who  drew  up  the  now  famous 


218  CENTENNIAL  ADDRESSES. 

Profession  came  in  for  their  share  of  eulogy  and  veneration.  The 
ideal  little  New  England  village,  the  beautiful  hills,  a  mass  of  yel- 
low and  crimson,  the  true  October  days,  and  the  grim  old  white 
church  keeping  guard  over  the  village  common,  made  a  perfect 
setting  for  the  recollections  of  the  scenes  which  transpired  here 
100  years  ago  and  for  the  earnest,  capable  remarks  which  were 
made  about  the  Universalist  church  of  today  and  the  prospects  of 
the  Universalist  church  of  tomorrow. 


DATE    DUE 

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